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CYRILLA.

A TALE.

THE AUTHOR OF "THE INITIALS.

Many also have perished, have erred, and sinned, for women."

Esdras, iv, 27.

IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. I.

LONDON:

RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET,

$ufcl(0fjer m ©roinarg to ?^er fflajwtg.

1853.

Printed by Oliver and Boyd,
Tweeddale Court, High Street, Edinburgh.

v.l

in

CYEILLA

CHAPTEE I.

2 Hundreds of English travellers pass through
" Salzburg every summer — many of them having
previously gone over a considerable portion of this
earth's periphery in that silent business-like manner
• which, on the continent of Europe, is supposed to
be peculiar to their nation ; not a few, after having
arrived at the melancholy conviction, that they
have already seen too much to be surprised or par-
ticularly pleased by any country left for them to
explore. Yet the feelings must be blunted in an
unusual degree, if that most beautifully situated
- town make no lasting impression on the mind,
when seen in all the glory of an unclouded sum-
mer's day. The range of mountains that form the
horizon, and from which the snow seldom altogether
disappears, is near enough to realize in a few hours
the dreams of the most imaginative pedestrian, in
VOL. I. B

Z CYRILLA.

gigantic rocks, thundering torrents, dark lakes, and
narrow secluded valleys. Mountains, too, are the
natural fortifications of the town itself, the solid
rock forming a part in the construction of many of
the houses, while forest trees grow luxuriantly
among the crags above their roofs.

Salzburg in summer, and Salzburg in winter,
present, however, very different aspects. The sur-
rounding scenery is unfit for enjoyment; we per-
ceive that the streets are narrow, the houses high,
that the mountains diminish the hours of light and
sunshine, and seem in their monotonous whiteness
like shrouded giants about to encircle us in their
frozen arms. The beautiful marble fountain in the
Dom Platz is covered up with wooden planks to
defend it from the frost; the exotic plants that
luxuriated at all the windows have been withdrawn ;
deep snow lies on the ground, not, however, wet
and slippery as we know it in England, but dry,
hard, crisp, and crystallized; and a stranger might
watch with interest the various kinds of sledges,
from those on which the loaded waggon slides
gratingly, its team of horses well furnished with
sonorous bells, to the lighter vehicles that, gliding
noiselessly along, convey the fruit and vegetables
to market, the fur-capped children to school, or the
capacious basket of a laundress to its destination.

The mixture of monks and military is also a
peculiarity that strikes immediately. With the

CYRILLA. 6

former we have nothing to do, with the latter
somewhat — that is, if the reader will consent to
retrograde some twenty years in imagination, and
spend a winter day in Salzburg towards the end
of the year 1830. Crossing the bridge over the
Salzach at an early hour in the morning, a turn to
the left will lead into a narrow street not far distant
from the palace of Mirabel, containing several large
massively built houses : over the gateway of one of
them a well-known coat of arms hewn in stone is
conspicuous, the coronet and savage upon it being,
it is true, rather weather-beaten and in some places
defective, but, like the tattered colours of a regiment
that has seen service, the increase of these defects
only serve to add to its value in the estimation of
its possessors.

This house was built by Rudolph Baron von
Walden auf Waldenburg in the seventeenth cen-
tury, and since repaired, altered, and enlarged, by
his successors at different periods; which interesting
facts were recorded on stones inserted in the walls,
that no subsequent yellow, green, or whitewashing
of the mansion had ever been suffered to conceal
or deface. It was asserted, with every appearance
of probability, that the buildings used as stables
had been erected by the Romans, and that perhaps
treasure, certainly antiquities, might be found, if
judicious and determined search were made in the
yard and its vicinity.

4 CYRILLA.

The Waldens had been an incredulous generation
with respect to hidden treasures, and cared for no
antiquities, excepting those that immediately con-
cerned their family. It was curious that the first
who, roused by curiosity or avarice, had rummaged
the family archives for information on the subject,
should be deprived in a rather arbitrary manner of
his inheritance. Unconscious of the value attached
to the house by his only son, Baron Walden had
bestowed it on his daughter Olga, as an additional
gift the day she had prudently married her cousin,
Gottfried von Adlerkron Windhorst, instead of a
penniless soldier of fortune to whom she had long
been attached. When afterwards, surprised and
dismayed at the boundless wrath of his son, Baron
Walden would willingly have re-purchased his gift
at almost any price, nothing could induce Olga to
resign a house which, even on her wedding-day,
she calmly thought would make a desirable widow-
residence for herself hereafter; a house in which
the stones spoke more distinctly of the noble race
of Walden, than even the excavated tunnel-entrance
to the town of its pious architect. A quarrel had
naturally ensued between the brother and sister,
followed by such intense hatred on the part of the
former, that years afterwards, on his deathbed at
Waldenburg, he had complained of his unjust disin-
heritance with all the bitterness of a freshly received
injury, rejoiced that his sister was childless, and

CYRILLA. 5

then enjoined his young son Conrad to purchase
the house of his aunt, if she could ever by any
means be induced to part with it.

In the meantime, the Baroness, as she had anti-
cipated, became a widow, and in the course of time
took up her abode in the " Walden Haus," as it
was called. The faint formal epistolary effort made
by her brother's son after his father's decease to
commence a correspondence, had proved quite fruit-
less ; she informed him, in a few cold unsympathiz-
ing lines, that, " having received the intelligence
of her brother's death, she would not refer to the
terms on which they had lived, but considered it
her duty to inform him now, if he were not already
aware of the circumstance, that she had adopted her
nephew, Rupert von Adlerkron, and intended to
make him, in accordance with the wishes of her
late husband, heir to all she possessed." The tone
or purport of the letter, perhaps both, prevented any
further attempt at conciliation or communication,
and the Baroness turned with renewed interest
towards Rupert, the last scion of the house of
Adlerkron.

As the son of her husband's eldest brother and
her own sister, he was doubly her nephew, also, in
consequence of former intermarriages in their fami-
lies, her cousin ; to this mixture of relationships she
had often alluded, but latterly they had all been
sunk in the name of adopted son, and she had for

6 CYKILLA.

many years made it her chief occupation to amass
wealth, hoping with it to purchase that affection
and devotion from him, which she had failed to
secure by less expensive means at an earlier period.
Some other relations had lately begun to occupy
her thoughts; they were the children of her hus-
band's youngest brother Carl ; but their having
been already left a considerable sum of money by
her husband, and a bequest of as much more should
they marry with her consent, had hitherto caused
her to regard them with an undisguised anger and
dislike, that nothing but a feeling of daily increas-
ing loneliness could overcome. To this was now
added a matrimonial plan for one of them, which
had suddenly but completely taken possession of
her mind; and this plan with its consequences
influenced in so remarkable a manner the whole
family, that the Baroness, as the projector of it,
must be considered worthy of more attention than so
little interesting a person would otherwise deserve,
or than perhaps will be quite agreeable to the
reader.

Let us mount the time-worn stone staircase on
the morning our tale commences, and on the first
floor we shall meet her walking towards the small
room in which she generally breakfasted. There
was an air of stern yet faded grandeur about the
interior of the residence, which accorded well with
the appearance of the mistress of it; her very dress

CYRILLA. 7

of fueillemorte coloured silk seemed to be of the
same date as the sun-bleached red curtains of the
ante-room. Such was not however the case : an ex-
perienced female eye would have pronounced the
scanty morning wrapper to be at least of this
century, whereas the furniture and its arrangement
but too evidently bore the stamp of a foregoing —
not the gorgeous rococo or renaissance, but the stiff
insipid style of the Revolution, with all its inelegant
angles and so-called antique forms. The effect
produced by this furniture in the massive antiquated
building was not unlike that of the Baroness' own
dress, as it clung to her full figure, which, not
above the middle height, inclined very considerably
to a degree of fleshiness that might almost be
termed corpulency ; the smallness of both hands and
feet denoted that the proportions had once been
finer, and more appropriate to the very handsome
face which had successfully braved the wear and
tear of an execrable temper and nine-and-forty
years. Her dark brow contracted, and an expres-
sion of vehement impatience burst from her lips, as,
through the negligently closed door of the stove,
the bright flames of an unusually large fire met her
eyes. She stooped, was for a moment lost in the
capacious mouth of the stove, and having then and
there ascertained that more wood was being burned
than was permitted, she called angrily to a footman
evidently attempting an escape, and asked in a very

8 CYRILLA.

loud voice, who had dared to waste her wood in
that extravagant manner.

" I don't know, madam, but I will ask Ursula,1'
he replied, turning towards a housemaid, who at no
great distance was busy at her usual morning work
of deluging the uncarpeted corridors, and mopping
them dry again, very much in the manner in which
the decks of a man-of-war are swabbed. She allowed
him to repeat the question of which she had heard
every word, and then answered saucily, " Baron
Adlerkron desired me to make a good fire ; he says
he is frozen in this house — that he has never been
warm since he came into it."

The Baroness did not wait to hear the softened
repetition of these words, but hastily entered the
room, and saw the person who had caused the un-
necessary waste of fuel drawing the breakfast-table
to the two arm-chairs which he had already placed
close to the stove. He was a very tall young man,
with fair hair curling thickly round a high white
forehead, large light blue eyes, a well proportioned
nose, and a mouth half concealed by mustachios of
unusual length, and hair still fairer than the
" Hyperian curls" that graced his head. He had
probably heard what had been said, for he half
laughed, as he looked up for a moment to say " Good
morning, aunt," and then again seized the table,
unheedful of the clattering cups and tall tottering
coffeepot, and continued to drag it towards him.

CYRILLA. 9

His aunt laid her hand on his arm, exclaiming,
" Not so close to the stove, Rupert, pray — I shall
be suffocated ! "

He stopped, drew forward a screen, and then,
having ensconced himself in a chair, began to eat
his breakfast in silence.

" I wish," began his aunt after a pause — " I wish
you would consent to remain here one day longer
— only one day ! Your cousins must arrive this
evening ; I cannot conceive what has delayed
them so long."

" It is not difficult to account for the delay," he
answered carelessly j u a journey from Italy is not
easily made in such weather as this !"

"But they left Italy six weeks ago, and have been
staying in Meran ; a most unnecessary expense, I
must say, for people in their circumstances."

" I thought you said my aunt Sophy had been
ill?"

" Oh, not more than she always is — one might
almost think that her former mode of life, wander-
ing about after your uncle's regiment, must have
been beneficial to her health, notwithstanding all
the discomforts to which it subjected her ; for since
he died, and she has been able to live quietly, she
has never been well."

" Perhaps grief began Rupert.

" Ah, bah ! — she did not care for him most pro-
bably more than I did for your uncle Gottfried, —

b2

10 CYRILLA.

perhaps not as much ; yet you see how I have got
over Ms death, which is even more recent."

Eupert leaned back in his chair, folded his arms,
and looked up to the ceiling. u While," she con-
tinued, " I don't mean to say that they lived un-
happily together, they got on as well as the gener-
ality of people, I believe ; but you know he had
been desperately wounded several times before she
married him, and from the time his jaw was shat-
tered, he was perfectly hideous ; besides, she was
his second wife, and was such a contrast to the
first, that I don't imagine he could have cared
much for her, at least we all supposed so. It was
your uncle Gottfried and I who arranged the mar-
riage, you know."

" My uncle Gottfried ! " said Eupert, with evi-
dent surprise ; H I should have thought that money-
making was more in his line than match-making."

" Why, yes ; but we were so afraid that Carl
would again make a fool of himself, that we were
glad to find any one at all eligible disposed to take
him. Your aunt Sophy's fortune was small, but
the connexion was very desirable, and crippled as
he was, after so many campaigns, he had no right
to expect either youth or beauty."

" So brave a soldier had a right to expect much,"
observed Eupert.

" Well, I don't deny his bravery ; but he had
faults of the most unpardonable description — he

CYKILLA. 11

was careless — thoughtless to a degree where money
was concerned. You don't know how often your
uncle Gottfried had to assist him !"

Rupert knew more about the matter than she
did ; but he did not say so.

" It was the only thing we ever seriously quar-
relled about, for I always thought and said, that
when people incurred debts they should pay them. "

Still Rupert was silent, and she continued, " You
have no idea what wild habits your uncle Carl
contracted during the war ; he quite forgot his sta-
tion in life, and from the time he married that
painter's daughter, Signora Nina, as they called
her, he lived almost exclusively among artists, and
actors, and authors, and such people."

u He led a very jolly life for several years," said
Rupert. " Every one says his wife was an angel,
and with such a child as Melanie must have been

" Melanie would have been totally spoiled if her
mother had not died," cried his aunt pettishly.
" Fortunately your uncle Carl attended to our ad-
vice, and sent her off to school before he married
again. The other two girls have been brought up
very differently."

" I know they have," said Rupert, laughing; "my
aunt Sophy's drawing-room was a perfect school-
room. I have a painful recollection of seeing my
little cousin Cyril la perched on a high stool before

12 CYRILLA.

a pianoforte, playing some dreadful exercises for
the left hand, while the tears streamed over her baby
face, and she occasionally wiped them away with
her long fair curls."

" So you remember Cyrilla?" cried his aunt
quickly.

" As much as a mere boy can remember a mere
child ; I recollect her shoes particularly well."

" Her shoes!"

" Yes, she used to wear little bronze-coloured
shoes, with pink sandals ; and once, after she had
performed some graceful sort of pantomime with a
scarf, I saw her father place her on a table before
him and kiss them. I thought at the time I should
like vastly to have just such a little child of my
own, bronze-coloured shoes and pink sandals in-
clusive."

" Nonsense, Rupert ! You could not have been
more than ten or twelve years old at that time."

"And yet I perfectly recollect indulging most
innocently in the wish to be a father," said Rupert,
holding a newspaper before his face to conceal a
smile.

His aunt half laughed, fidgeted on her chair,
played with her coffeespoon, and seemed to hesi-
tate and consider what she should next say. At
this moment the sound of an approaching sledge
became audible, and no sooner did the jingling of
the bells denote its immediate vicinity, than Ru-

CYRILLA. 13

pert sprang up, and throwing wide open the double
windows, gave entrance to the cold winter air, and
a considerable quantity of snow, while making
exaggerated salutations to some one below.

" At last ! " exclaimed the Baroness, rising has-
tily ; " at last ! Well, I really am glad that they
have come before you leave Salzburg, for I must
tell you "

What she intended to tell her nephew was in-
audible, for the moment she had risen from her
chair, with a little more than usual precipitation,
four dogs, remarkable for nothing but their diminu-
tive dimensions, commenced snarling and barking
with all their might. Totally inattentive to her
commands for silence, they first endeavoured to im-
pede her progress across the room, by running over
her feet, and then seizing Rupert's fur-lined dress-
ing-gown, which hung temptingly before them as
he leaned out of the window, they tugged at it so
successfully that in a few seconds it was torn in
several places.

" I don't hear what you say !" cried Rupert to
some one in the street. " Confound these useless
curs," he added, impatiently kicking those nearest
him, " it is impossible to hear a word when they
are yelping in this way. Where are you to be
found?"

" At the barracks. We are going to make a sledg-

14 CYRILLA.

ing party into Bavaria to-day, to drink Rhine
wine — did not Polyak tell you ?"

" I did not see him "

" I thought he was the best person to give the
message to you, as we all know that he is every-
day and all day "

Rupert threw back his head and eyes with a
significant jerk, the speaker made an odd grimace,
and calling out, " I shall expect you in an hour,"
drove off.

" I wish you would shut the window, Rupert,"
said his aunt pettishly ; " it is very cold. I really
thought, from your impetuous manner, that it must
have been your cousins you expected to see, and it
is only that stupid Count Glaneck."

" An excellent, kind-hearted fellow as ever
lived."

" That is more than I can say for you, — you
have kicked Amor and Mi-lady unmercifully."

" I did not mean to hurt them, though they pro-
voked me beyond endurance. Come here, Mi-lady.
You do not seem to have suffered much from my
boot. Affectionate creature ! She has turned up
her little red eyes to my face — she forgives me.
May I not hope that my aunt will also pardon my
impatience, or cruelty, or whatever the misdemean-
our may be denominated, of which I have been
guilty?"

CYR1LLA. 15

" I think," said his aunt, not quite satisfied at
his attempt at contrition, " I think, Rupert, you
must purposely try to annoy me. I know you are
fond of dogs — all sportsmen are ; and yet mine are
abused and kicked by you on every possible occa-
sion."

" If they did not bark just when I happen to be
speaking, or when other people are speaking, I
have no sort of dislike to them, though they are
useless little brutes."

"Usless little brutes ! "

"Why, yes. I don't suppose Mi-lady ever
killed a rat in her life; Amor would run away
from a mouse ; and Jolie and Minkerl are of such
doubtful breed, that one hardly knows what they
are intended to represent."

u Minkerl is a Russian terrier ; his father was
Russian and his mother was Russian, and Colonel
Bockenheim says he envies me but one thing in
the world, and that is — Minkerl."

" Don't believe him. He envies you your thou-
sands and tens of thousands of Austrian florins and
Prussian dollars much more ! I suspect, too, he
intends you to bestow a few of them on his very
pretty daughter, or he would never have proposed
giving her to you for a companion."

" That was not exactly his intention, but you
are not very far from the mark."

"And, pray, what was his intention?" asked

16 CYRILLA.

Rupert carelessly, while he amused himself placing
bits of sugar on the dogs' noses, which they were
not to eat until he had given the word of com-
mand. " What was his intention ? — Steady, Amor !
make ready — present — halt — present "

" He knows the large fortune of which you are
in actual possession, as well as that, having quar-
relled with my brother, you, and you alone, are
likely to be my heir. He thought that as you are
unmarried, and his daughter as you say very
pretty, there was a chance of "

"Fire!" cried Rupert, and the dogs crunched
their sugar while he hastily rose, and with a ges-
ture of impatience prepared to leave the room.

" You always avoid this subject, Rupert, though
you know very well how much I wish you to
leave the army, and "

" I know very well how much you wished me
to enter it a few years ago."

" Yes, when you wanted to travel in the East ;
but now that you are older and steadier, I wish
you to marry and settle at Windhorst. Colonel
Bockenheim says you would be more manageable
if you had a few debts, and I believe he is right ;
not that I exactly wish you to have pecuniary
embarrassments like other young men "

" Thank you, aunt, but I have none whatever ;
and as to marrying Colonel Bockenheim's daugh-
ter "

CYRILLA. 17

u His daughter ! " exclaimed the Baroness haugh-
tily ; " no, indeed, I never thought of such a
connexion ! We can easily find some one more
suitable."

" Yes, yes, we can easily find some one more
suitable," repeated Rupert, while he hurried to-
wards the door. " Time enough, time enough. I
give you the next ten years to look out for a wife
for me. No man should ever marry until he is
past thirty."

" Generally speaking, perhaps, you are right ;
but in your case it is otherwise. You are the last
of the Adlerkron Windhorsts ; and know, that
should you die without having children, estates
that have been in our family for hundreds of years
fall to the crown. Windhorst you know "

u I know, I know," cried Rupert ; " but your
other nephew, Walden of Waldenburg, is precisely
in the same position. Why don't you bestow
some care on the preservation of your own imme-
diate family ? Conrad must be a well-grown lad
by this time. What's his age ?"

"Don't name him to me!" she exclaimed an-
grily. " The son of a brother I disliked so much,
and who did not scruple to injure my reputation in
every way that lay in his power, shall never in-
herit anything from me. All my hopes and ex-
pectations are centred in you."

" I 'm very sorry to hear it," said Rupert, with

18 CYRILLA.

an impatient sigh, " and wish that I had a brother
or any thing that would save me from proposals of
marriage, and prevent so many people from in-
teresting themselves in my concerns."

u I hope you have no objection to my expressing
some interest about you, Eupert ? "

" O, of course not."

" Well then, I wish to speak a few words to you
about something really of importance, and deeply
interesting to us both."

"I am afraid Glaneck expects me, — if you
would only postpone your communication until I
return "

" But you intend to spend the whole day with
him: I heard you say so!" cried his aunt with
visible irritation. " You never bestow five minutes'
attention on me, however," she added with affected
resignation ; " you learned to treat me with indif-
ference and disrespect from your uncle, and I ought
never to have submitted to it from either of you."

Eupert had heard this so often that he either no
longer doubted the fact, or deemed it unnecessary
to attempt a contradiction, and merely replied while
his hand was on the lock of the door : " I intended
to have remained out late, but if you desire it I
shall endeavour to get back in time to talk to you
before you go to bed. Early to-morrow morning I
must start for the north ; the remainder of my leave
of absence ought to be spent at Windhorst : they

CYRILLA. 19

tell me the roof wants repair again ; I wish half
the castle would fall to the ground — the other half
would be more than large enough for me!"

" Rupert!"

"You need not look so shocked; there's no
harm in a man's wishing his ancestors had been
more economical in stone and mortar. I never go
to Windhorst without thinking what a famous
cavalry barrack it would make ! "

" Oh, Rupert ! if your uncle were alive, and
could hear you talk in this way, after all the im-
provements he made there during your minority ! ' '

" I did occasionally hint something of the kind
to him ; for even his presence could not make it
other than a magnificently dull place. I am think-
ing of buying a very pretty hunting-lodge near
Exfort as soon as I find we are likely to be quar-
tered there ; but I can tell you all about that in
the evening. You may expect me at nine or ten
o'clock. Are you satisfied ? May I go ? "

His aunt did not look satisfied, but she nodded
her head, and Rupert, uttering a hasty au revoir,
left the room.

20 CYRILLA.

CHAPTER II.

Soon after her nephew left her, the Baroness,
muffling herself in a fur-lined cloak, and accom-
panied by her housekeeper, descended the stairs to
inspect the rooms prepared for the reception of her
sister-in-law and her two daughters. Under pre-
tence of a wish to be useful and kind to relatives in
not very brilliant circumstances, and altogether
forgetting to mention that her wealth had not been
able to procure her one friend, or even a companion
whose presence she could tolerate, she had offered
them the use of some apartments on the ground-
floor of her house, after having found it impossible
to induce any tenant to remain more than a few
months in them. It is probable her sister-in-law
would have declined the permission to occupy them,
had not the letter containing the proposal hinted
something conciliatory about a " certain important
paragraph in her husband's will," and a u hope
that her house would henceforward be a home for
her sister-in-law and her daughters."

CYRILLA. 21

Unwilling to decline the first advance towards
friendship on the part of their rich relation, they
had not ventured to refuse, and they quitted Italy
with heavy hearts ; and from Meran they wrote to
request the Baroness to purchase whatever furniture
was absolutely necessary in the first instance, but
to avoid any expense beyond their means. Nothing
could be more comfortless than the appearance of
the large low rooms with their half-dozen chairs,
hard cushionless sofas, and scanty white curtains.
The Baroness Adlerkron, however, seemed to think
it quite good enough for the expected occupants,
and even found some of the bedroom furniture un-
necessarily costly.

" Painted chests of drawers and wardrobes would
have answered the purpose quite as well, Monica,"
she observed to the housekeeper, who stood shiver-
ing beside her, " painted in imitation of cherry-
wood or walnut, you know. This is an unneces-
sary expense — don't forget to collect all the bills,
that my sister-in-law may see exactly the price of
everything."

The woman sneered slightly, and murmured
something about stoves requiring to be heated, as
there had been no fires since the whitewashing.

" The time of their arrival is too uncertain,"
replied the Baroness coldly ; " but you had better
bespeak wood for them — not, however, from the
peasant who supplies me ; I wish as much as pos-

22 CYRILLA.

sible to avoid employing the same tradespeople."
She drew her cloak tighter round her, and walked
up stairs.

After looking over her house-accounts, and scold-
ing a good deal about the extravagance practised,
without exception, by every member of her estab-
lishment, she summoned her maid and changed
her dress. The morning wrapper was thrown aside,
and a silk dress, evincing an economical inclination
to follow the latest fashion without a too great ex-
penditure of stuff, was substituted ; an indescriba-
ble fantastic head-dress, supposed to be Hungarian,
composed of bright-coloured velvet ribbons, partly
concealed her dark hair, which was but slightly
tinged with grey; and while she amused herself
clasping bracelets on her wrists, her maid kneeling
before her tied the sandals of a pair of diminutive
silk shoes the colour of her robe. With satisfac-
tion she glanced at both feet and hands, and then
a little less confidently at her full length image in
the glass. It was the reflection of a woman past her
prime, but not yet faded : the marked and regular
features were still so handsome, that, as she gazed,
a smile of proud approbation stole over them — a
row of teeth of faultless purity became visible, and
she turned away, calling her dogs around her, as she
held out her hand impatiently for her handkerchief.

The maid, in presenting it, said diffidently , " Mar-
tin wishes to know if the sledge will be "

CYRILLA. 23

" Martin may wait for my orders," said the Ba-
roness, haughtily interrupting her.

" His daughter was so very ill last night,
that "

" I know nothing of his daughter — I have
never heard of his having a wife," said the Ba-
roness, frowning ; and then, shaking her handker-
chief in the air, which was a signal for her dogs to
make violent springs to catch it, she walked on to
the drawing-room, followed by all four barking
and snarling around her.

The house seemed to have increased in gloomi-
ness even since the morning — no ray of winter sun
now lightened its vaulted corridors — no sound more
cheerful than the barking of small clogs enlivened
them. Situated in that part of the town which
lost its brilliancy and fashion when the Crown
Prince of Bavaria ceased to inhabit the closely ap-
proximate palace of Mirabel, it had, with the ex-
ception of the bel etage, been let to a numerous but
quiet family of the name of Bornstedt. They were
respectable, and paid their rent regularly ; and the
Baroness, in a condescending sort of way, in-
formed them, through her porter, that they might
continue to do so, even after she had taken posses-
sion of her own apartments. She explained at
some length to her avocat, that " having a family
of that description in the house was rather desir-
able than otherwise for a widow — it would prevent

24 CYKILLA.

attempts at robbery or anything of that kind ; but
as they did not live in her l world/ any idea of
social intercourse was of course quite out of the
question. They were very good sort of people,
and she hoped they would have sense enough to
understand their position."

She took care that they should learn it soon
enough ; for when chance, in any place, brought
them together, though she graciously returned the
bows and curtsies of the whole family with an in-
clination of her head, her lips refused to move or
even part for a moment, lest such condescension on
her part should provoke familiarity and draw her
into a sort of acquaintance. Haughtily had she
ordered her servant to refuse them admission, when,
after she had been established in her house about
ten days, they, in the excess of their civility, came
to pay what they considered a visit of imperative
politeness ; and this she had done after having
been informed by her maid (for servants will talk
to each other) that the Bornstedts were only wait-
ing for their spring bonnets, and that Miss Joseph-
ine, or as she was familiarly called Miss Pepi, had
got a new muslin frock for the occasion.

With deliberate cruelty, too, she had watched
until one fine fete day — when the said spring bon-
nets and new frock had left the house to grace and
enliven with their presence one of the numerous
gardens in the neighbourhood — to return the visit.

CYRILLA. 25

As the happy family -party, joyous and a little
noisy, sauntered down the street, she put on her
bonnet and shawl, and with a card on which was
engraved " La Baronne d'Adlerkron Windhorst
ne'e Baronne de' Walden Waldenburg" in her
hand, she desired a footman to ring the bell on the
second floor. Following just enough to make her-
self visible in the distance to the maid who opened
the door, she turned down a corner of the card to
denote that she had been there in person, and then
again descended the stairs.

One last faint effort was made by the Bornstedts
to be " neighbourly," as they termed it. A short
time afterwards, when they met her entering the
house, they endeavoured with considerable volu-
bility to express their regret at not having been at
home when she " had done them the honour to
call." She bowed her head haughtily two or three
times, and then continued her conversation with a
young officer who stood beside her, quite unheedful
of their abashed countenances as they drew aside to
let her and her companion pass them. This young
man was known by the name of the Adlerkron
aid-de-camp. He had brought a letter of introduc-
tion to her — had been invited to her house, and
some way or other had got a habit of going there
every day. Nor had he been singular either in
this name or in his habits ; each following regiment
had furnished a successor, sometimes older, some-

VOL. I. C

'2Q CYRILLA.

times uglier, never younger, until the time our tale
commences : but if we follow the Baroness into
her drawing-room now, it will puzzle us to find out
what can induce so very young a man as Count
Ivan Polyak to spend every hour, not claimed by
actual duties, in that large cold room. Perhaps he
wished to have a lounge in one of the first houses
in the town — perhaps he was an admirer of the
still handsome Baroness — perhaps he liked people
to talk about him : these reasons, and some others
of a less creditable description, were commonly
assigned him by the Salzburg world, which proves
that the world there can be as unnecessarily cen-
sorious as elsewhere. The fact was, he had only
just joined his regiment — had been educated at
home in the heart of Hungary. Half proud, half
shy, and not particularly clever, he had not learned
to feel at ease among his comrades excepting when
he was on horseback ; while with the Baroness he
could talk of his father, mother, brothers, sisters,
and tutor, without reserve : besides she was a cor-
rect and unwearying accompanier on the piano-
forte, and he sang a little and played the flute in a
melancholy gentlemanlike sort of way. Though
not an amusing, the Baroness was a loquacious
woman — was accustomed to have some one to
listen to and answer her appropriately ; and during
both her married and widowed life she had always
had a tame man of some kind or other about her,

CYRILLA. 27

so that such a person had become at last absolutely
indispensable. The French have their cavalier ser-
vant— the Italians their cicisbeo — the Germans
their hausfreund. The English vocabulary (on
this occasion one may rejoice in the poverty of the
language) fails to furnish a word, so we must be
satisfied with the Salzburg military denomination,
and say that the aid-de-camp was a small slight
young man, with coal-black hair and eyes, a sal-
low complexion, turned-up nose, and slightly pro-
jecting chin; his tightly - fitting hussar uniform
was worn with such ease, that it seemed what it
nearly was, rather a national costume than a mili-
tary dress.

He sprang across the room to meet her as she
entered, and then commenced some noisy play with
the dogs until she had established herself on the
sofa, and drawn an elaborately inlaid spindle-legged
work-table towards her, from the silk pouch of
which she drew forth a huge piece of tapestry.
Then he sat down beside her, and while the dogs
endeavoured to tempt him to continue their boister-
ous sport by scratching and whining at his boots or
springing on his knee, he unceremoniously pushed
them down with one hand, while, leaning forward,
he with the other endeavoured to construct various
incongruous edifices by heaping together the differ-
ent implements of female industry, bonbonieres,

28 CYRILLA.

vinaigrettes, flacons, and all the other miscellanies
usually collected on such tables.

"I scarcely expected to see you to-day," she
said, taking a pair of scissors out of his hand.
" How did you happen not to join the sledging
party into Bavaria?"

" I feared they would make me drink too much
of that sour Rhine wine, which I cannot learn to
like ; so I refused to go with them. I suppose it
is had taste on my part ; but I think our wines
better."

" Tokay against johannesberg," said the Baron-
ess.

" Exactly. By the by, I regret to say that you
must wait until spring for the tokay I promised
you : we have no roads passable at present, so the
wine must come with my horses — I am sorry for
the delay."

" It is of no consequence. But what do you in-
tend to do with more horses ? you told me yester-
day you intended to sell your greys."

u Very true ; but — you see — I often want money,
and am continually obliged to apply to my father :
to do him justice he has been liberal enough —
but I am a bad manager, and he has now informed

me that he can send me no more — but a as

many horses and as much brandy as I choose."

" Brandy ! "

CYRILLA. 29

u Yes ; we have distilleries on our estates — most
people in our neighbourhood have."

" I suppose," said the Baroness, " as the Bava-
rians have breweries?"

" Very likely ; I don't know anything about Ba-
varia as yet, excepting that the beer is good."

" Well— but— about the brandy? "

" Brandy he offered me, and corn too, but they
were not in my line, so I chose the horses."

" And how many do you expect ? "

" I don't know ; a good lot at all events, for we
have everything on a grand scale at home."

u I wonder your father does not sell his corn and
brandy."

u We are so quite out of the way of roads and
markets, our brandy is sold to the people about us,
and the produce forms the greater part of our in-
come. As to the rest, we have everything we want
for the plentiful keeping of a house, with servants
and horses unnumbered."

" But when you went to Pesth "

" Oh my mother and sisters always quartered
themselves on our relations ; my father never
moved, he was bored enough by their coming back
with all sorts of new dresses and ideas."

" New ideas ! of what kind ? "

" Why, the last was, that we must invite all
the officers quartered within ten or twelve miles of

30 CYRILLA.

us to our house, and from that time they never
were out of it : my eldest sister married one of
them, an Austrian, and we thought it a famous
thing at first."

" And not at last ? "

" Why, not exactly. When I visited her in
Vienna, on my way here, she was living in a
queer out of the way lodging, and could only
afford to keep one pair of the horses my father
had given her ; then, she and her husband went
to every one's house who asked them, and never
gave anything at all themselves. I thought the
concern shabby, and told Ilka my opinion plainly
enough."

" I daresay she told you hers in return."

" She said I was a foolish boy, and did not know
how people lived in civilized countries ! "

" A most slighting speech," said the Baroness,
smiling ; U unpardonable, if it had not been made
by a relation and countrywoman."

" Oh in her heart she is as much a Magyar as I
am ; nevertheless, we had a desperate battle, in which
I should have been victorious if her husband had
not come to her assistance. It is only lately, how-
ever, that I have begun to find out what he meant
by people in civilized countries living on money,
and not on the raw produce of the land. When at
home, I had everything I wanted, and never knew

CYRILLA. 31

how it was procured — now, I am obliged to pay for
every glass of wine I drink.''

" You don't find your present state of indepen-
dence so agreeable as you expected, perhaps ? "

" Not quite ; and, if living on money be, as my
brother-in-law says, a stride towards civilisation, I
wonder what he would call living, as I do now, on
nothing at all ? "

" That is the excess of civilisation," said the
Baroness, laughing, " and can only take place for
any length of time in highly civilized cities ! "

u Indeed ! But even in highly civilized cities, if
one happen to have a brute of a banker "

" Hush," cried the Baroness, playfully ; " I
have a great respect for bankers — all reputable
people have ; there are few better trades, and in
time of war or rumours of war, like the pre-
sent "

" Oh, if there were a war, I should have very
little to do with the bankers — I could forage for
myself then."

" Of course you would ; but while we are wait-
ing for the commencement of hostilities, suppose
we drive out in the sledge?"

It was ordered, and her maid appeared with
muffling in every possible form, and a bonnet with
long waving feathers. Now the sledge, with its
costly furs, silver bells, tassels, and plumed horses,
was by many degrees the handsomest in Salzburg :

32 CYRILLA.

the occupants, therefore, were more pleased than
surprised to perceive that people stopped to look at
or after them as they dashed along the streets and
over the bridge. They saw not the nods, the
shrugs, the scornful smiles, or vulgar winks that
pursued them ; with undisguised satisfaction and
unerring hand Polyak guided the impatient snort-
ing horses and fragile vehicle over the frozen snow,
more pleased, however, than his companion, when
they were overtaken on the Walser Felder by the
military sledging party to Bavaria, It seemed as
if all the officers of the garrison had turned out,
and each as he passed saluted with grave mien and
laughing eyes, Kupert not excepted, even while he
called out " Ten o'clock at latest ! "

On their return, as Polyak was about to take
leave, the Baroness asked him to share her dinner.
Without a moment's hesitation he accepted the in-
vitation ; and it was very evident that he felt him-
self quite at home when soon after seated opposite
her, at a little table, in a little room, with a very
little dinner before him.

CYRILLA. 33

CHAPTER III.

As the hour appointed by Rupert drew near, the
Baroness became fidgety, cross, and hungry, and
the moment the clock struck ten she rang the bell
violently and ordered supper. She had time to eat
it, and might have sat quietly ruminating after-
wards, as is so strongly recommended by physicians
in general, had not restlessness instead of quietude
been her habit, which, as it proceeded from the
neglected cultivation of an active mind, and total
want of real occupation of any description, was a
torment to every one about or depending on her.
The servants, even those who had stolen off to bed,
were now put in requisition. One was sent with
a note to Count Polyak to ask if the sledging
party had not yet returned; others were to make
inquiries of the sentinels at the two entrances of the
town from the Bavarian side ; others again to watch
at open windows, to give notice of the sound of
approaching sledges; while she herself walked up

C2

34 CYRILLA.

and down the room, not suffering uneasiness, but
yielding unreservedly to impatience and ill-temper.

It was in this ruffled state that she now awaited
her nephew's return, and it was perhaps a fortunate
circumstance that, when he arrived, his companions
detained him long to say adieu, and make promises
of beating up his quarters during the ensuing sum-
mer. At length they were gone, and Rupert
bounded up the stairs, and presented himself to his
aunt a perfect personification of good humour.

" Capital fellows the officers here !" he exclaimed:
" Never met a jollier set !"

" You look as if you had been more than jolly,"
observed his aunt.

" Then my looks belie me," he answered, slightly
shrugging his shoulders, and then stooping to play
with the dogs, determined not to commence a con-
versation which he would rather have avoided.

" Have you supped ?" she asked abruptly.

" Yes, thank you : hours ago."

" And a you had a gay party and Count

Glaneck enjoyed it as much as any of you?"

Rupert stared; he knew his aunt did not care
the least in the world for his friend, so he answered
laughingly, that " Glaneck had been very cheerful,
and he was sme would be extremely flattered if he
heard of her kind inquiries about him."

"Hum It seems he has quite got over the

loss of his wife !"

CYRILLA. 35

11 Oh, no ; he speaks of her constantly ; and,
from what he says, is not likely to find any one to
supply her place."

" And yet he must many again, I suppose,"
said the Baroness ; " widowers generally do when
they have children."

" Perhaps he may," said Eupert. " If I had
known that you were curious on the subject, I
should have asked him."

" Pshaw," cried his aunt impatiently ; "he is a
man I rather dislike than otherwise; but he has
been an exemplary husband, they say, and may
have recommended you to a Perhaps, how-
ever, it is better to speak plainly, and say at once
what I mean."

" I wish you would," said Eupert; and perceiving
that evasion was no longer possible, he added, " I
have returned home early on purpose to hear all
you have to say to me before I leave."

" Must you then go to-morrow?"

"Yes."

" And your aunt and cousins hourly expected! "

•' I regret extremely not being able to renew my
acquaintance with them, but I can no longer post-
pone my journey; and I should think that a few
months sooner or later can be of very little import-
ance to any of us."

" I think differently, however. Do you remem-
ber your cousins ? "

36 CYRILLA.

" Scarcely. I have not seen them for more than
twelve years — not since the time of the Royal
Congress at Aix, you know, when Melanie married
Count Falkenstein."

" Yes; I remember we had to give them money
to go there, as some one foolishly told your uncle
Carl the baths might be of use to him. Physicians
should never order baths for people who have not
money to pay for them !"

" But they were of use to him," said Rupert.
" He was quite cheerful and well afterwards."

" At all events he got Melanie off his hands
before she had time to make a fool of herself," said
his aunt ; " but, to return to your cousins Fernanda
and Cyrilla, you have not told me what impression
they made on you."

" None whatever," replied Rupert laughing ;
" they were mere children, and did nothing but
learn lessons and practise the pianoforte from
morning till night. They must be dreadfully
accomplished by this time, I should think ! Me-
lanie, however, made quite as deep an impression
on me as you seem to desire. She certainly was,
when she married Falkenstein, the most beautiful
woman I ever saw. She is still very handsome,
and still the most romantic, poetical "

" She is an authoress," cried his aunt interrupt-
ing him — " an authoress ; and I hate women who
write books. I have no fancy for figuring in print,

CYRILLA. 37

and therefore will have nothing to do with her.
She has never taken the least notice of me since
her marriage; but I don't want her, nor does she
want me in any way it seems, and so we are equal.
Your other two cousins are, however, differently
situated. I am afraid they will not be satisfied
with the permission to occupy part of my house ;
they, or at least their mother, will expect me to do
something for them "

" But surely," said Rupert with a look of sur-
prise, " surely you must have had some intentions
of that kind when you proposed their coming here?"

" You seem to forget, Rupert, that you will be a
loser in exact proportion to my generosity."

" There is no generosity in the case. Give them
at once what my uncle bequeathed them."

" I shall do no such thing; they have got enough
from me already — besides, he left it to them only
in case they should marry with my consent !"

" Oh, there will be no difficulty on that score
here, if you do not object to the military line.

Let's see : there's Glaneck for one Ah, now I

know why you inquired so particularly about him
— Glaneck for one, and Polyak for the other ! Pol
is a capital little fellow — domestic habits, and all
that sort of thing!" and Rupert laughed merrily,
undisturbed by his aunt's frowning countenance.

" You talk as if I were a common matchmaker,"
she observed angrily.

u Most women," he said, still laughing, " have,

38 CYRILLA.

I believe, an inclination to provide for the domestic
happiness of their unmarried friends ; and I have
little doubt that you have already formed plans for
both your nieces. Now, my advice to you is, that
you refrain from using your authority on so very
important an occasion : tell them that their uncle's
legacy is theirs when they choose to claim it, and
that you leave them at liberty to marry when and
whom they please."

" You talk lightly of a large sum of money, Ru-
pert ; however, this is the very subject on which I
wished to speak to you."

" You surely did not think that I would attempt
to dissuade you from such laudable intentions?"
asked Rupert smiling.

" Wait until you hear my whole plan. You
know your uncle's and my greatest wish has ever
been that in the course of time you should repurchase
Adlerkron, the place from which we take our name,
and that your grandfather so foolishly sold in order
to buy shares in those odious copper mines "

" Which," said Rupert, " have turned out very
well, and are a vast deal more profitable than
Adlerkron."

" He would have sold Windhorst too if he
had had the power," cried the Baroness indig-
nantly.

" 'Twas a pity he could not, as he then would
have retained Adlerkron," said Rupert. " I am
sorry that place has gone out of the family."

CYRILLA. 39

u Now you are talking rationally. — So you
would like to have Adlerkron again ?"

" Of course I should ; but Polinsky asks a fancy
price for it now."

" And you have been negotiating with him
about it?"

u Yes ; but finding it quite beyond my means, I
intend to employ my minority capital in another
purchase."

" No, no, Rupert; Adlerkron is not beyond your
means if you will only do as I propose. I must
endeavour to keep my fortune undivided for you,
and at the same time do something for these girls.
I cannot, therefore, think of a better plan than that
you should marry one of them : Fernanda is too
near your own age, but Cyrilla is scarcely eighteen,
and when I saw her promised to be very pretty."

Rupert had expected a proposal of marriage, and
had already mentally refused all his female acquaint-
ance ; his cousins had never once occurred to him,
and, though determined to decline the alliance, he
was for a moment unprepared to answer, and his
aunt continued with evident satisfaction : " You
see, Rupert, the connexion is in every way desira-
ble— your aunt too is such a — a — very worthy
person, and has taken such enormous pains with
the education of her daughters, that they must be
everything a reasonable man could desire in a wife.
T should have preferred letting things take a natural

40 CYRILLA.

course, and had you consented to await their arrival,
it is very probable that you would have thought of
this plan yourself; but, to be quite candid with
you, I have another and stronger motive than I have
yet ventured to tell you for urging this match."

Eupert looked up but did not speak, and she
continued —

" Your determination to return to the north to-
morrow has confirmed all my fears that you may
at last be inveigled into a marriage with that half
French girl — that artful Yirginie de Lindesmar, who
they say actually attempted to poison herself in a
fit of desperation about you."

Eupert sprang from his seat, exclaiming angrily,
" This is intolerable ! How can you believe or
repeat such nonsense, Madam?"

" Whatever you may say, Eupert, some founda-
tion for this report there certainly was : her mother,
who it was said at first joined and assisted her,
grew frightened, and hushed up the affair as well
as she could; but Virginie de Lindesmar most
certainly attempted to poison herself one night after
a ball, and it was supposed you intended to marry
her from compassion, though every one agreed in
saying that you had not committed yourself in any
way. I have my correspondents, you see, and
know more about you than you imagined."

" Any thing else, Madam? " asked Eupert with
affected composure.

CYRILLA. 41

" Oh yes. One person who wrote to me on the
subject added, that Virginie had confessed that
she "

"I beg your pardon for interrupting you, but
when I assure you that I never thought of marry-
ing her or or any one else, in all my

life "

"They say, however," persisted his aunt, "they
say that a sort of conditional engagement exists be-
tween you."

" Then," answered Rupert, impatiently, " re-
ports contradict each other in this instance, for
they say, also, that she is about to be, or is actually,
married to a Frenchman — a Vicomte de Rubigny,
and she is in all probability by this time in Italy
with him, as he is attached to some embassy there.
On that subject at least let us avoid a dispute."

" I never knew any one so fond of mystery, or
so tenacious of secrets as you are, Rupert. Any
other would have told me the true state of the case
at once, when they knew they might rely on my
discretion."

" I really have nothing to tell. You know how
very intimate 1 have always been with the Lindes-
mars. I played with Virginie when she was a
child, and danced and sang with her when she
became older. What could be more natural ? If
people choose to give us in marriage to each other,
I cannot help it. Surely you have lived long

42 CYRILLA.

enough in the world to know that reports of that
kind are often almost without foundation."

" Then the stories about her jealousy, and the
laudanum, and her mother's intrigues, are not true,
and she never went to your rooms disguised as a
student or "

" Heaven and earth!" cried Rupert, losing all
patience, " this is too much ! I have told you that
she is married, or going to be married, and as she
will never in any way be connected with our fa-
mily, she cannot in the least interest you in future.
If you have not anything of more consequence to
discuss, I shall propose going to bed, as I start
very early in the morning."

" Why, you have not given me any answer to
my proposal about your cousin."

" My cousin ? Cyrilla, I think, it was you said ?
I a consider the relationship too near."

" Nonsense, Rupert ! The Adlerkrons and
Waldens are cousins, and have gone on inter-
marrying for three successive generations !"

" I won't marry my cousin," said Rupert, fold-
ing his arms as he leaned against the stove with
a look of great resolution ; " I have no doubt that
she is very pretty, and very accomplished, and all
that a reasonable man could desire, as you so justly
observed ; but I am not sufficiently reasonable to
take a wife on recommendation, and must and will
choose for myself."

CYKILLA. 43

" Your wife will have no enviable lot!" cried
his aunt, angrily ; " for a more obstinate, passion-
ate, disagreeable man does not exist than you have
become during the last few years !"

" If such be your opinion of me," said Rupert,
with some irritation, u I cannot conceive how you
could think of sacrificing your niece so barbar-
ously."

u My niece must many whoever I please, and I
shall not think it at all necessary to consult her
inclinations on the subject : it will be very odd if I
cannot control her at least ! You consider yourself
independent of me, and brave my authority with-
out the slightest consideration ; but there are limits

even to w?^ indulgence Do not try me too far,

Rupert my affection for you is great, but it has

bounds ; and once for all I tell you, that if you do
not consent to marry Cyrilla — I — I will — never ^
forgive you — never speak to you again — and all
connexion between us will end this night ! "

u As you please, madam."

u So you will not many her?" asked his aunt,
in a voice trembling with anger.

u No — no — certainly not."

u Then," she cried, rising from her chair and
vehemently pushing aside everything with which
she came in contact, " then, this must be our
last interview. When your whole conduct is a
system of opposition to my wishes, you camiot ex-

44 CYRILLA.

pect that I should still consider you as my son, or
look upon you as my heir ! To-morrow I shall
make another will, and I feel myself exonerated
from the necessity of even naming you in it."

" I might remind you of my uncle's intentions
and wishes," cried Rupert, his eyes flashing and
his face flushed ; " and I might try to make you
aware of the unreasonableness of your command,
but — I am only too glad to escape my present
thraldom on any terms ; and pray keep in mind
that you have yourself pronounced me free — dis-
carded me. Gratitude for my uncle's kindness
and care, not mercenary motives, has bound me to
you hitherto. I beg in future that you will alto-
gether forget my existence."

He strode out of the room as he pronounced the
last word, leaving his aunt in a state of mixed as-
tonishment and rage. No longer controlled by his
presence, she paced the room with unequal steps,
murmuring unintelligibly words of dire import.
At the end of a quarter of an hour she became
calmer, seated herself again, and, while she im-
patiently tapped the arms of her chair, began to
think that she might perhaps have gone too far.
Her threat (for it was nothing more) of disinherit-
ance had been received in a manner that had com-
pletely confounded her : she regretted having been
so premature with the disclosure of her plan, and
saw plainly how injudiciously she had acted in los-

CYRILLA. 45

ing her temper when she ought to have been most
temperate. The sound of horses entering the gate-
way made her start : she felt convinced that, late
as it was, Rupert was about to leave her house —
perhaps for ever. She rushed into the adjoining
room, and rang without intermission the bell which
denoted a summons for her maid, until she ap-
peared.

"What noise is that on the stair?" she asked
quickly.

" They are carrying down the carriage cases. I
have already told them not to make so much
noise," she replied, quietly placing a chair before
the toilet-table, and a pair of slippers beside it.

" How absurd to leave at such an hour ! Go
directly to Baron Adlerkron, and tell him I wish
to speak to him again — there was something

which I forgot to say to him. Tell him no

go at once," she cried, waving her hand im-
patiently.

u Perhaps," she murmured, pressing her hands
together, u perhaps he will refuse to come to me ;
and, for a girl about whom I am perfectly indiffer-
ent, I may have lost the only one of our family
left me to care for, and whose position in the world
could add dignity to mine ! I ought to have made
allowance for his warmth of temper, and after all I
could not expect him to take a wife without hav-
ing seen her !"

46 CYRILLA.

She listened anxiously as steps approached, and
presently Rupert entered her room enveloped in furs,
and evidently on the eve of departure.

After a struggle for composure, she began re-
proachfully, " I wonder, Rupert, you are not
ashamed to give way to such violence of temper.
You ought to endeavour to overcome these bursts of
passion "

" I thought it was you who had been angry," he
answered, with a good-humoured smile.

"Is it not anger that makes you set out on your
journey at such an hour of the night?" she asked
quickly.

" I like travelling at night ; and besides, I feel
that I have nothing more to do here, now that I
am to be disinherited."

" Pooh, nonsense ! I only said that when I was
angry — I mean displeased — I never for a moment
seriously thought of such a thing ! "

" I do not know what you thought, but I heard
what you said, and to prevent a renewal of the
subject, I disclaim all expectations of any kind —
the purport of your will I shall never inquire.
Freedom of action is worth more than all you
could bestow on me. I should act as I do now
even if I were poor ; how much more easily can I
do so when your fortune, large as it is, is no object
to me whatever.

" No object whatever ! "

CYKILLA. 47

" None ; for, much as I am habituated to wealth,
there never was any one whose personal wants were
so few, or whose tastes so simple as mine. I am
independent in every sense of the word."

u And, to prove your independence, you will some
day many a woman without either fortune or con-
nexion ! "

" I have determined at all events not to many
Cyrilla: I feel a sort of incipient dislike to her,
which will probably in time ripen into a respectable
kind of hatred."

" Eupert, you would provoke a saint : it is im-
possible to know whether you are jesting or in
earnest."

" Believe me, aunt, I have no inclination to jest
about matrimony; every approach to the subject
seems doomed to be a source of annoyance to me.
I sometimes feel as if I were predestined to be
unfortunate in my choice, or in my wife, though,
to avoid it, I have resolved not to marry until I am
desperately in love with some one in every way
desirable."

" Oh, Eupert, nothing can be so desirable as
what I have proposed; I cannot understand a man
making objections, when everything can be arranged
satisfactorily."

"Cannot you?" said Eupert, half laughing;
" perhaps we are more inclined to make objections
than women."

48 CYRILLA.

" But you have not so much at stake "

" Have n't we '? " he said, looking impatiently
towards the door.

" Well, well, I shall say no more about it ; but
before you go, you must promise to forget what I
said to you just now."

11 Do you mean about Cyrilla? "

" No, I mean about my will: if, however, you
would remain until to-morrow "

" If I did, you know we should spend the time
in useless arguments."

" Say at once, Rupert, that you do not intend to
marry."

" I shall say no such thing. Cyrilla is perhaps
the only person against whom I feel a decided
antipathy."

" Obstinate boy ! "

" Boy! " repeated Rupert, laughing; " well, be
it so, but let me then hear no more about wives and
marriage."

" And when may I expect to see you

again?"

" Some time next summer per — haps."

" And in the meantime," said his aunt, " should

I find Cyrilla I mean, in case I should wish to

see you for a few days, will you not come tome?"

" Oh, of course, if it be possible; but understand
me, I will not marry Cyrilla."

CYRILLA. 49

" May I at least depend on your consulting me
before you decide on any one else? "

u I cannot promise that," said Rupert; " to con-
sult is half to ask advice, which one should not do
without some intention of following it; but you
shall hear time enough for us to quarrel about it a
few weeks, at the end of which time "

" You will do exactly what you please," cried
his aunt, interrupting him; "I see you are incor-
rigible."

Rupert laughed, took leave, and hurried down
the stairs into the cold night air with a light heart,
and a determination that many months should
elapse before he again would enter the house he
was then leaving.

VOL. I.

50 CYRILLA.

CHAPTER IV.

The next day brought the travellers, who had
been so anxiously expected. Had they arrived
twenty-four hours sooner their reception would
have perhaps been different ; but the Baroness
Adlerkron now felt more annoyance than interest
as she stood at a window and saw, with a mixture
of irritation and scorn, the heavily packed hired
carriage, in which her relatives had made their
journey, roll slowly under the archway into the
house. She had been watching with Polyak the
snow-storm that had prevented them from sledging,
and served as an excuse for him to remain to
dinner. As he now turned away and began hastily
to drink off his coffee, naturally supposing it neces-
sary to leave her, she observed carelessly, u You
need not hurry ; they will scarcely come up stairs
for the next half-horn.' or more, and I don't feel the
least inclination to go to them."

In the meantime, however, her servants ran un-

CYRILLA. 51

bidden down the stairs. Some assisted to unpack
the carriage, while others opened the rooms and
commenced lighting- the fires.

" Pray, mamma, don't take off your cloak or
you will be frozen," cried Fernanda springing to-
wards her mother, and endeavouring to warm her
hands by rubbing them in her own, which were
equally cold and stiff.

They looked round the room and shivered.

" How gloomy ! How wretched and inhospi-
table these rooms appear tome!" exclaimed Cyrilla
with dismay. " Oh, what a change is this ! These
are vaults, not apartments!"

u Wait until they are warm and we have had
time to make ourselves at home in them before
you pass judgment," said her mother, glancing
significantly towards her sister-in-law's servants.
u You are much too hasty in forming your opinion
of places and persons."

u

I don't think I shall ever feel at home here

or

ever be warm again," she rejoined heedlessly while
she took off her bonnet, and pushed back a profu-
sion of long fair ringlets, showing a bright joyous
face in all the indefinite beauty of extreme youth ;
then suddenly observing that her mother looked
very grave, she half-playfully, half-seriously knelt
down on a footstool beside her, and taking one of
her hands in both hers, silently watched the bring-
ing in and partial unpacking of some military-

s

52 CYRILLA.

looking cases, on which time had nearly obliterated
the letters and numbers that had for years ensured
them a place on the baggage waggons of a very
distinguished regiment. There was a quiet in-
difference to trifling discomforts in the manner of
all three, — an absence of whatever was not abso-
lutely necessary in the contents of these chests,
that proved more plainly than words that the
owners had travelled long and far. And in fact
this had been the case in no common degree ; for
the Baroness Carl Adlerkron had never been in-
duced to part with her daughters, either to send
them to a school or to relations whose lives were
more tranquil than her own. They had, therefore,
with her followed their father during his lifetime,
and afterwards a constant pursuit of health had
made the south of France and Italy the scene of
perpetual wanderings. Of the seclusion supposed
to be necessary for the purpose of education they
knew nothing; even as children both sisters had
mixed in society, — it had become habit, second na-
ture to them ; and yet Cyrilla, with her unembar-
rassed manners and gradually acquired knowledge of
social life, was as little worldly, and quite as inno-
cent, as any blushing girl who has just returned to
her family after having passed eight or ten years of
her life in a Pensionnat or " Establishment," with
well jalousied windows, and high-walled grass gar-
den, learning to speak French and work embroidery.

CYRILLA. 53

When their aunt's servants were gone, Fernanda
began to assist the elderly grave-looking Swiss
maid to unpack, while Cyrilla first walked and
then danced round the room. "The furniture
here," she said merrily, "will not damp our voices
when we sing, or impede our movements when we
dance."

" I must say," observed Fernanda laughing,
" our aunt has followed somewhat too implicitly
the directions to avoid expense : we must have
another sofa directly, that mamma may be able to
enjoy her afternoon sleep. I hope the stove is be-
ginning to get warm."

Cyrilla went towards it, — not a particle of heat
had as yet penetrated the antiquated mass of tiles
which filled one entire comer of the room, reaching
to the very ceiling. "No one would imagine,"
she said, placing her hands on the different parts
where the warmth was most likely to penetrate, —
" Xo one, I am sure, would imagine that that civil
housemaid of my aunt's shoved half a tree into its
gaping mouth !"

" I think," said Fernanda, " these rooms must
have been intended for a porter who was to be
allowed an unlimited quantity of wood ; we shall
be obliged to spend half our income buying fuel."

" My dear girls," said their mother, " you seem
to forget that we have the apartments free of rent.
Instead of abusing the stove, let us give it time

54 CYRILLA.

to warm the room, while we go to your aunt, who
seems to expect us to seek our welcome."

They followed her as she ascended the stairs in
silence, Fernanda endeavouring, as well as she
could, to arrange her dress and smooth her ruffled
hair. She was painfully conscious of the plainness
of her appearance, — knew that her hair would not
fall of itself into picturesque waves and curls like
Cyrilla's — knew that her features were irregular,
and that freckles disfigured the reddish fairness of
her complexion, — and never forgot that her figure,
diminutive and thin, was particularly unattractive.
The early knowledge which she had acquired of
these imperfections had ahly seconded her mother's
efforts to make them forgotten by diversified ac-
quirements. Without decided talent, or even strong
inclination for any of the arts, perseverance had
made her a good musician, a correct painter, and a
perfect dancer.

Count Ivan Polyak was leaving the Baroness'
apartments as they entered them ; he moved aside
to let them pass, and, while they scarcely observed
him, he stood and deliberately examined the three
persons concerning whom he had lately heard so
much, and with whose ages, habits, hopes, fears,
and expectations he was perfectly acquainted.
They became conscious of their gradual approach
to the drawing-room by the barking of dogs, —
were formally announced like ordinary visiters,

CYRILLA. OO

though in a voice inaudible from the noise in the
room, — and some minutes elapsed before they were
able to hear the few words of welcome murmured
by the Baroness. Cold was the kiss and scrutiniz-
ing the glance bestowed on each niece 5 and Fer-
nanda's lips closed rigidly, and Cyrilla's eyes
filled with tears, when they saw their mother vainly
struggling to conceal her annoyance at a reception
so different from what she had expected.

" You have been long on your journey — Down,
Jolie — Minkerl, Minkerl how can you be so tire-
some ! — I a expected you several days ago ! "

" The weather was inclement, and I was ill."

" Dreadful misfortune being so unhealthy. I'm.
sure I hope Salzburg may agree with you. No-
thing I dread so much as being near any one who
is constantly ill — it is so very depressing, and one
can't do any good, you know ! "

u You speak like all those who do not know
what illness is," answered her sister-in-law, with
some bitterness ; " from me at least you shall hear
nothing of it, and my children are healthy in an
unusual degree."

The Baroness fixed her eyes on Cyrilla, and
observed, — u She is a complete Adlerkron; they
have all light hair with natural curl and blue eyes :
her eyes are darker than Rupert's — how old is she?"

" Seventeen."

" And Fernanda?"

56 CYEILLA.

" Twenty-three."

" How thankful you ought to be that the other
two are in heaven ! What would you have done
with four daughters now ?"

" I can never do otherwise than regret having
lost my children," replied her sister-in-law firmly.
" Had it pleased God to leave them with me,
he would have provided for them also. I have
always observed that large families get on well in
the world."

" Humph ! And what do you mean to do with
these two?"

" I hope, with your assistance, to see them in
time happily married."

" That is, you have brought them here on spec-
ulation, and have taught them to think ration-
ally about men and marriage? You have done
well."

" I hope I have been able to preserve a due
medium," said her sister-in-law with a slight de-
gree of irony in her manner. " I think I can
answer for my daughters not being unreasonable
in their expectations."

" So much the better ; it would be absurd if they
claimed the privilege of choice. You will allow
that if any one ever had a right to choose — I was
that person ; and yet I married the man proposed
by my father; and had Gottfried been old instead
of young, ugly instead of handsome, I should still

CYRILLA. £7

have married him. Love had nothing to do with
the matter at all!"

a I remember hearing something to that pur-
port/' said her sister-in-law ; " but mj daughters
are still in ignorance of circumstances that oc-
curred before they were born, and in no way
concern them."

u O," said the Baroness, " I thought you might
have told them the true state of the case when
speaking of me. I do not see why they should not
know that their uncle Gottfried chose me because
he wanted capital for speculations, — perhaps also
because I was the handsomest woman of his ac-
quaintance, and that I married him to... to... please
my father."

"And," said her sister-in-law smiling, " and to
punish some one else with whom you had quar-
relled."

The Baroness ceased playing with her dogs.
She even pushed Minkerl rudely away, as she
answered, " Precisely ; I did not choose the world
to suppose me forsaken. The Waldens are too
proud to endure pity !"

" I believe," said her sister-in-law smiling, " I
believe you have been much more envied than
pitied. Your life has been a series of fortunate
events ; every speculation of your husband's suc-
ceeded beyond his most sanguine expectations;
you have enjoyed health and wealth, and have

d 2

58 CYRILLA.

been celebrated for your beauty. What can a
woman desire more in this world ?"

" Children to inherit my wealth — children of
whom I could be proud when I grow old !"

" Ah, I had forgotten that — and children are
such a source of interest all one's life, and such a
comfort in one's old age — especially daughters."

" I don't care for daughters," rejoined the Ba-
roness ; "I should have liked to have had a son.
You know of course," she added, " that, according
to the wishes of Gottfried, I have adopted our
nephew Kupert ?"

Her sister-in-law bowed ; a long pause ensued,
which was broken by the latter asking in a some-
what constrained voice, " How Rupert had grown
up — it was so many years since she had seen him."

u He is everything I could desire — gay, hand-
some, fashionable — a little obstinate sometimes;
but no one is faultless. By the by, I have some-
thing of importance, about which I wish to speak
to you the first time we are alone — this evening,
perhaps, when the young people have gone to
bed "

But on this hint the young people, glad of the
offered chance of escape, precipitately rose from
their chairs, and, notwithstanding their aunt's in-
vitation to remain to supper, and assurances that
they had quite misunderstood her, they both left
the room.

CYRILLA. 59

The conversation between the two who remained
was, as may be supposed, about the marriage of
Rupert and Cyrilla. The Baroness acknowledged
the indiscretion of which she had been guilty, in
having spoken to the former before he had seen his
cousin ; and, although she did not seem to consider
the inclinations of the latter of the slightest import-
ance, she agreed with her sister-in-law in thinking
that Cyrilla should be kept in ignorance of the
plan until Rupert had seen and approved of her.
She then spoke in terms of sincere admiration of
her appearance — doubted not that both girls had
been admirably educated ; and, in short, by com-
mending her children, made her sister-in-law for-
get the coldness of her reception, and the unac-
countable pettishness which had been so evident
at the beginning of their interview. The ready
acquiescence to all her plans put her into good
humour ; and, utterly insensible to the wearied looks
of the poor invalid traveller, she detained her dis-
cussing the same topics until near midnight ; nor
even then would she have allowed her to go, had
not her sister-in-law declared that she must at least
ascertain that Fernanda had gone to bed. " Fer-
nanda never allows any one to undress me but
herself, as it is then we talk over all our little house-
affairs — she is an excellent housekeeper."

" It is a pity that she is a... rather... plain," said
the Baroness ; " but if she be amiable, accom-

60 CYEILLA.

plished, and economical, why... one would not at
all mind keeping her at home — every one cannot
marry in this world, you know ! Wait a moment,
and I can give you a skeleton-key to your apart-
ments, which will enable you to enter without ring-
ing the bell. Good night."

The Baroness Carl took the key, and slowly de-
scending the stairs entered her apartments unheard
by her eldest daughter, whom she found, as she had
expected, in the drawing-room ; but the poor girl
had fallen fast asleep sitting perfectly upright in
her chair, a small lamp burning dimly on the table
beside her, and her hand grasping the key with
which she had intended to have admitted her
mother.

" I believe I have been asleep," she cried, start-
ing up. " Had you to wait long? who opened
the door for you?"

" Your aunt has given me a key; and in future,
when she detains me so long, you must promise to
go to bed."

" What on earth could have induced you to re-
main all this time with that disagreeable woman?"
asked Fernanda, while she assisted her mother to
undress.

A pause ensued. Her mother hesitated whether
or not she should confide to her daughter the whole
of her sister-in-law's plan ; but the habit which she
had acquired during the last few years of consulting

CYRILLA. 61

Fernanda on all occasions prevailed, and she re-
lated without the slightest reserve all that had been
said, adding, that the idea of snch a connexion was
more familiar to her than her sister-in-law seemed
to think, it had so often been proposed by their
uncle Gottfried when they were mere children, as a
good way of providing for Cyrilla and securing an
eligible wife for Rupert.

" If you could only ascertain what kind of man
he has become ! " observed Fernanda, thoughtfully.
" I can only remember when he visited us at Aix
that he was a tall fair-haired boy, with most out-
rageously high spirits."

" It would be a most desirable match," said her
mother, musingly, " in every way desirable — for-
tune, family, age, exactly what we could wish !
Your aunt," she added, looking up with a smile,
" seemed purposely to avoid even the most distant
allusion to your uncle Gottfried's will, but of course
it has influenced her on the present occasion —
Rupert would never think of demanding Cyrilla' s
little fortune!"

u Do you think it possible," asked Fernanda,
" that the five thousand Friedrichs d'or can have
induced her to form this plan ? "

" Most assuredly, most undoubtedly ; and you
must look out for some one who will at least
agree to wait until her death ; she will never other-
wise give her consent to your marriage. It is a

62 CYRILLA.

most fortunate circumstance that she has chosen
Rupert for Cyrilla ; and she is in earnest too, for
she was very angry with him for refusing to re-
main here and not agreeing to marry her at once.
I don't in the least blame him ; I think he was
quite right ! "

" And now," cried Fernanda, u imagine his sur-
prise when he sees her — think how he must love
her when he knows her! "

The conversation continued long in the same
strain, ending by an agreement that it would be
advisable not only to keep Cyrilla in total ignor-
ance of their hopes and expectations, but even to
avoid, if it were possible, ever mentioning Rupert's
name when she was present.

CYR1LLA. 63

CHAPTER V.

The Adlerkrons, or as our first acquaintance, the
Baroness, chose to have them called, the Carl
Adlerkrons, had been but a short time established
in Salzburg when they received a letter from the
Countess Falkenstein, proposing an immediate visit,
and saving that she longed to see her stepmother
and sisters again after so many years' separation.
If the former had no objection she would take
Cyrilla away with her ; she knew that Fernanda
was indispensable to her mother's comfort, or she
would propose carrying off both, &c. &c. &c.

u How very kind of Melanie to write so soon,
and to propose coming for me herself at this time
of year," said Cyrilla. " You will allow me to go,
of course ? "

" Yes — I think so — most probably, — but I must
first visit your aimt and hear what she says."

" My aunt ! " repeated Cyrilla, with a look of
surprise : u She can have no objection ; and if she

64 CYRILLA.

have any inclination to direct or control us, I hope
you will not permit it — your consent is sufficient
for me."

Her mother and sister exchanged looks; and
then the former said quietly, " I think it better to
ask her opinion nevertheless. Will you go with
me?"

" No, thank you. I cannot endure those odious
dogs ; and besides, I believe I — I rather dislike my
aunt than otherwise."

" You must not dislike her ; she really means
well, and is interested about you."

" Perhaps so ; but it is impossible to force affec-
tion, and my feelings towards her nearly resemble
antipathy. Ask Fernanda if she thinks my aunt a
lovable person."

Fernanda shook her head, and bent over her
work.

" May I write an answer to Melanie ? "

" Not until I return," replied her mother, with a
little decided nod of her head, which Cyrilla un-
derstood so well that even when the door closed
between them she refrained from the expression of
annoyance that rose to her lips, and silently con-
tinued her occupation of sketching imaginary like-
nesses of her sister Melanie, while awaiting the
termination of the conference. It lasted longer
than any of them had expected, for her mother met
with opposition as violent as it was unexpected.

CYRILLA. 65

The Baroness would not hear of Cyrilla's leaving
Salzburg — how could her sister-in-law think of
anything so absurd? or how could any reason-
able person imagine that an introduction to the
society of a provincial town like Exfort could in
any way promote their plans for her marriage?
The case would be different if Rupert and his regi-
ment were quartered there ; but of that there was
no chance for the next year or two. In the mean
time the less Cyrilla was seen or known the better :
she had already perceived that even in Salzburg
people were beginning to pay her more attention
than was desirable !

Prudence predominated, and the Baroness Carl
yielded ; but she softened the announcement to
Cyrilla by saying that she thought it very prob-
able her aunt would change her mind in the course
of a few months, and that it would only be neces-
sary to request Melanie to postpone her visit, and
delay her journey for a short time.

That same day the Baroness wrote a letter to
Rupert, beginning with entreaties, and ending with
commands that he would forthwith return to Salz-
burg— his aunt Sophy was ready to receive him as
a son, and Cyrilla was everything that the most
fastidious of men could desire.

Rupert did not keep her long in suspense ; his
answer came by return of post.

u He was very glad to hear that his cousin was

66 CYRILLA.

so charming — he liked having pretty cousins. On
the subject of marriage his ideas were unchanged ;
no one should ever force a wife upon him. With
respect to returning to Salzburg, that was at pre-
sent impossible ; he could not ask for leave of ab-
sence for some time, and when he did it would be
to go to Exfort, where he hoped to be in the month
of May, for the purpose of purchasing a place called
Freilands from Prince N. Melanie and Falkenstein
had written to him about it, saying that it was
within a few miles of the town, well stocked with
game, and exactly the sort of thing he had been
trying to get."

Now, completely convinced that the only chance
of bringing Rupert and Cyrilla together would be
to send the latter to Exfort, when Melanie again
wrote to say that she would delay her journey to
Salzburg until February, and that she would take
her sister to Berlin and have her presented at court
before they went to Exfort — there was no further
difficulty made, the Baroness however observing,
" That she hoped Melanie was steady enough to
take charge of such a girl as Cyrilla ! "

" Cyrilla is steadier than you imagine."

" She is, however, very young," continued the
Baroness, " and so pretty that she will have op-
portunities enough of making a fool of herself."

" I must say, I do not apprehend any danger
whatever."

CYKILLA. 67

u But I do. Melanie is too full of sentiment and
poetry to observe what is going on about her. I
heard lately that she believes in ghosts and animal
magnetism, and all sorts of nonsense."

" That will not, however, make her house a
dangerous place for Cyrilla. During the years we
have been separated I have constantly heard of her
from friends and relations of my own with whom
she is intimate. When she first married I was
uneasy about her I confess, but the accounts have
been satisfactory in every respect, and she has
merely retained a few odd romantic notions that
only find vent in words ; besides, Count Falken-
stein is such a steady rational domestic man that I
could not desire a better protector for Cyrilla than
he will be."

" Perhaps so, if he would give himself the trouble ,

to be one but he lives in his office and his

study, and pores from morning till night over
parchments and protocols, as if he were prime
minister instead of president of a provincial govern-
ment."

u I have been told that he has a great deal of
business to transact," said the Baroness Carl as
she rose to take leave; w but he oversees and rules
his own house as completely as he presides over
the district confided to his charge."

" Then you mean to write to him about Bupert
perhaps?"

6% CYRILLA.

" Certainly not ; but if you think we ought to
explain to Melanie or hint to Cyrilla "

" Better say nothing/' cried the Baroness
quickly. " I would give much that I had never
mentioned Cyrilla' s name to Rupert ! Most pro-
bably what I have said will prevent him from ever
looking at her."

The Baroness Carl smiled incredulously.

" Oh, you don't know what a spirit of opposition
he has ! However, there is no use in talking about
it any more ; let us hope the best, and don 't forget
that I expect you all to coffee to-morrow. We
must talk about the Carnival, and consider whether
or not it be advisable for Cyrilla to go into society
here or not."

The question was decided to Cyrilla's satisfac-
tion ; she was to be allowed to enjoy herself at that
age when enjoyment is unalloyed by recollections
of the past or care for the future.

And the Carnival commenced. The Carnival !
that word which, to untravelled English ears, con-
veys merely some vague ideas of masquerades and
mummeries, but to the inhabitants of catholic
Europe pleasures innumerable, the more valued
because the time is restricted from Twelfth Night
to Shrove Tuesday. How often is the question
asked, " Shall we have a short or long Carnival ?"
How often are the new almanacs consulted ; and
when the weeks are few, how quickly the balls

CYEILLA. 69

follow each other ; how much pleasure (perhaps we
should say amusement) is compressed into the limit-
ed space. Every rank of society has its balls, from
the court down to the very lowest grade of servants.
Dancing is in Germany a passion which pervades
all classes alike — in other respects they have but
little in common, and seldom mix. Commerce has
not often enabled Germans to amass enormous
riches; and even were individuals of the burgher
class to become possessed of extraordinary wealth,
it would not raise them above their original sphere,
so strong is the line of demarcation drawn by birth
and fortified by prejudice.

In England but no; we will not say what

wealth can do there. Cleverer pens have already
described the rich parvenwls progress — his almost
certain elevation, though devoid of all that com-
mands respect save wealth alone. We must, how-
ever, also remember that in England talent and
intellectual eminence of every description will
enable the possessor to rise, perhaps even more
quickly, and certainly more agreeably, in the social
scale, whereas both are alike powerless in Germany.
Birth and genealogy decide the position in life so
completely that it is a physical impossibility to
change it, inasmuch as none can give themselves
other fathers and forefathers than those from whom
they have their origin ; while the multiplicity of
the class denominated noble, enabling them gener-

70 CYRILLA.

ally to many among themselves, this spirit of caste
is kept up with a rigour little inferior to that of
India. The low caste (not noble) are very fre-
quently admirers or worshippers of the high caste
(nobles) ; many wish also to belong to them — some,
irritated by the insuperable barrier opposed to
their ambition, hate and ridicule the whole aristoc-
racy ; while others, more reasonable, are satisfied
with their citizen state, and regard the nobles as a
class apart, who have peculiar ideas, habits, and
whims of their own, to which they have an heredi-
tary right not worth disputing. A "noble" in
Germany, no matter how impoverished he may be,
or how low his station in life, never loses the
thought, "lama nobleman; " and this idea enables
him to look down on the richest and most prosper-
ous burgher with a sort of proud contentedness that
would be perfectly incomprehensible to an English-
man.

The prerogatives of the nobility have lately been
much and justly curtailed ; some are however still
retained, and among them one which is not con-
sidered such in England — the right of being pre-
sented at and frequenting the court. This privilege,
possessed with few exceptions exclusively by them,
is pretty generally claimed, though valued by
many more as an outward and visible sign of
nobility than as a means of exhibiting their loyalty;
but as in all communities it is the endeavour of a

CYRILLA. 71

few to raise themselves above the level of those
with whom they associate, and one observes this
propensity strongly developed, as phrenologists
would say, wherever women take the lead, so, even
in the social intercourse of the privileged class, there
are well known divisions and distinctions, the most
common and comprehensive being that called the
Haute Volee. Mrs Trollope, in her amusing work,
" Vienna and the Austrians," speaks of la creme
and creme de la creme as farther distinctions used
at Vienna. That many other metropolises aspire to
the same extreme nicety in the classification of
their " first society " is beyond a doubt, and if
they fail, it is not from want of good will but
want of numbers. The effort has been, and is
being made, in smaller, and very small cities,
though where a few fortunate individuals fancy
themselves creme, their numerical force is not suffi-
cient to substantiate their claims, or enable them
to be quite exclusive. In order to fill their rooms,
they are under the necessity of inviting to their
balls and soirees those who are modestly contented
with the name of Haute Volee, and who are for the
same reason obliged to mix unreservedly with the
court-going nobility.

That in Salzburg there was a Haute Volee was
a matter of course — the more tyrannical as there was
no court with equalizing condescension to moderate
its arrogance. The Baroness Adlerkron was one

72 CYEILLA.

of its members, though not the most revered among
them ; but even those who spoke slightingly of her
conduct past and present, and who unreservedly
ridiculed her ill-lighted ball-room and economical
suppers, did not dare to oppose her sway. She was,
and had been all her life, what is called fashionable,
nor was she likely to lose that enviable title to
consideration, having both wealth and connexion
to secure her claims. As soon as she discovered
that her nieces were even more accomplished than
she had expected, their acquirements were on all
occasions put in requisition, without the slightest
consideration for their inclinations. The very un-
willingness which they occasionally manifested to
leave their mother acting as a sort of stimulant to
her selfish feelings, she not only insisted on having
them constantly with her, but also accompanying
her wherever she went. On the evenings that she
now was " at home," her house began to be
crowded; there alone tableaux were got up, and
masks and sledging parties arranged. Count
Polyak was no longer the only frequent visiter,
though he continued to appear day by day with a
punctuality which first surprised and then amused
both sisters. Their presence never in the least inter-
fered with his habits : he came at the same hour,
sat in the same place, talked in the same monoto-
nous tone of the same not particularly interesting
events; and though his attentions became by de-

CYRILLA. 73

grees a little divided, the so very much larger
portion was still devoted to the Baroness, that she
was quite satisfied ; indeed, the idea of finding
rivals in her nieces had never once entered her
head, so certain did she still feel of the power of
her station and beauty.

The limited weeks of the Carnival passed gaily
over, and the sound of sledging bells and mazurka
music was still ringing in Cyrilla's ears, when
another letter from her step-sister arrived to name
the day of her arrival. " How quickly the time
has passed since we came here!" she said, after
having carefully read the long, well-written pages;
" I never thought I should have liked Salzburg so
much ; and Count Polyak says it is even pleasanter
in summer! "

u But," said her mother, " in summer there are
no balls or masked sledging parties ! "

" Of course not ; but waterfall, lake, and alp
parties must be still gayer. I should not at all have
minded if Melanie had written to say she could not
come for me until autumn! "

" Indeed! "

" The north of Germany," she continued, " is
not to be compared to the south; even my aunt
allows that the climate here is pleasanter, the
country much more beautiful; but at all events,
people are of more consequence to me than places.
Here I have you and Fernanda, and dozens

VOL. I. E

74 CYEILLA.

of gay acquaintances, and there, nobody I care
about, excepting Melanie and my cousin Rupert.
I confess I rather wish to see Mm"

Her mother and sister were silent, and she added,
" Neither of you appear to remember how veiy
near a relation he is — a sort of brother in fact, as
we have no other. Count Polyak says I am
exceedingly like him."

" What else does Count Polyak say, my dear? "
asked her mother, smiling ; "he seems to have
become your oracle lately."

" He is the only person who can, or will, tell me
anything about Rupert," said Cyrilla, laughing.

" And what has he told you? " asked Fernanda,
quickly.

" I thought you felt no sort of curiosity or inter-
est concerning him," said Cyrilla, archly; "at
least you said something to that effect a short time
ago, when I spoke to you about him."

" Perhaps she did not like to exert her imagina-
tion so unnecessarily," observed her mother; " so
uselessly, I may say, for neither of you can possibly
have the least idea what he now is."

" I have a tolerably good idea, nevertheless,"
said Cyrilla, pertinaciously. " In appearance he is
a perfect Adlerkron, tall, fair, and, from what
Count Polyak says of him in other respects, I wish
with all my heart he were really my brother ! He
was immensely popular here, and more than one of

CYRILLA. 75

our acquaintances had serious intentions of marry-
ing him! "

u Marrying him! " repeated her sister. u Was
Mademoisille de Bockenheim one of them?"

" Yes. How did you know that ? "

" I knew she had been in the habit of coming
here with her father, and I asked her something
about Rupert one evening "

" So you have been making inquiries too ! '
cried Cyrilla, laughing; " but I don't think you
have heard as much as I have."

" I have not heard of his intending to many
Mademoiselle de Bockenheim," said Fernanda,
smiling.

" Xor I either," rejoined Cyrilla; " and Count
Polyak says it is more than probable he will never
marry — certainly not until he is quite old. He
has got that unfortunate mania with which men of
large fortune are so often afflicted, of fancying that
no woman really cares for him, but that any one
would marry him, in order to be joint possessor of
Windhorst, Lanneck, Felsheim, and all his other
possessions."

" And yet," said Fernanda, " I have heard that
he is a man one could like for himself alone."

u 0 yes; Count Polyak says he liked him very
much ; every one liked him ; and as, after all, his
matrimonial fancies do not in any way concern us,
I have determined not to let them interfere with

7G CYRILLA.

the affection which one ought to feel for so near a
relation. Don't you think I am right, mamma? "
" Quite right. And now, go and let Justine try-
on your new dresses; she says you run away from
her just as you used to do when you were a
child!"

CYRILLA. 77

CHAPTER VI.

The day on which the Countess Falkenstein* was
to arrive was spent in anxious expectation. The
sisters had not met for twelve years, and a good
deal of curiosity was mixed with a sort of affectionate
solicitude. While their mother, according to a cus-
tom acquired during years of constant ill health, lay
on a sofa and slept, Fernanda and Cyrilla kept up
a whispered conversation, which, from the force of
habit, promoted instead of disturbing her slumbers.
Long and earnestly they spoke, for it was probably
the last time they would be alone together for
many months, and as they had never yet been
separated even for a day, these months assumed
the importance of years, and reiterated were Fer-
nanda's entreaties that her sister would write often,
and without reserve.

Cyrilla was too happy herself to observe the
effort which it cost her companion to speak com-

78 CYRILLA.

posedly of their separation ; but she listened atten-
tively to her proffered advice, and made many
promises, which, in the sequel, she found it impos-
sible to fulfil.

" Melanie does not seem to be very exact as to
hours," she observed, at the end of a silence which
had lasted some minutes. " She wrote that she
would arrive about two o'clock, and it will soon be
four, and so dark in these rooms that I cannot see
to work any more. I wonder how she will like
my aunt's having invited a large party to stare at
her!"

" Not at all, I should think," answered Fer-
nanda. u I am sure she would prefer spending the
evening alone with us ; and if she arrive late, which
seems probable now, it will be very disagreeable
to her changing her dress to meet a number of
people she does not care to see. But, talking of
dress," she continued, rising quickly, " reminds
me that I have not given Justine any directions
about mamma's."

" What's the matter! " cried their mother, start-
ing up; " has Melanie arrived? "

u No, mamma. I am sorry I have disturbed

yo«."

u I have slept long enough, too long I believe,"
she said, smothering a yawn. u Your aunt requested
I would go to her early; so I think, if you will

CYRILLA. 79

ring for Justine, I may as well dress and go at
once."

" I suppose you allow me to remain here, and
receive Melanie," said Cyrilla.

" Yes ; but tell her that your aunt expects to see
her,"

Cyrilla returned to her place at the window. It
was in a sort of alcove, formed by the thickness of
the walls, and raised a few steps above the level of
the rest of the room. The height of the windows
from the floor gave a sombre prison-like appear-
ance to the apartment, but had the great advantage
of securing the inhabitants from being seen by pas-
sengers in the street, while the elevation gave
them a more extended view, both up and down it.
As the evening closed in, and heavy drops of rain
began to platch into the half-melted snow, Cyrilla
retreated to the stove, and sitting down beside it,
seemed to think profoundly — and, in fact, thoughts
came crowding fast upon her, chasing each other
like the phantasma of a dream ; but if one might
judge, by the half-smiling tranquil expression of
her delicate childlike face as it rested in the palm
of her hand, the thoughts were of a cheerful, al-
most pleasant description. Let us not attempt to
scrutinize them ; they were those of any girl of her
age when on the eve of a journey to an unknown
land and to unknown people : she would inevita-
bly fall in the estimation of the grave reader were

80 CYRILLA.

even an attempt to be made to follow the wild ex-
cursions of her imagination, as her cousin Kupert,
of whom she knew little, and the town of Exfort,
of which she knew nothing, passed before her
mind's eye, — the President's house — shoals of new
acquaintances, and scores of officers, who all danced
inimitably ! A dim, distant vision of something
or somebody peculiarly interesting and attractive
followed ; and then the long-expected sound of car-
riage wheels, and a postilion's horn became audi-
ble, the latter making " assurance doubly sure"
that travellers were approaching. Never had a
horn sounded more gaily, — and that is saying a
good deal, for all postilions have that appendage
in Germany, and on entering and leaving a provin-
cial town, blow it lustily too — on the latter occa-
sion solely for the purpose of attracting attention,
the sound drawing all idlers to the windows ; and,
at an early hour in the morning, it is rather amus-
ing to watch the different stages of the various
toilets, from the wild-looking head which has just
left the pillow, to the half drawn-on coat, that, in
the hurry of opening the window, hangs hussar-
like over the shoulder.

Cyrilla's haste in ringing the bell, and ordering
the door to be opened, was unnecessary. The Ba-
varian postilions, in their blue and silver liveries,
on turning the corner of the street, had put their
horses into a walk : had they been asked why,

CYRILLA. 81

they would have said, it was on account of the
rough pavement, or uncertainty about which was
the Walden house ; but we know better, — they had
begun to blow their favourite song —

" Die Senderin ist a Madel
Wie Milly und wie Blut,
Sie ist dem frischen Jager
Vom ganzen Herzen gut."

And until it was ended there was no chance of
more rapid motion — the very horses knew it, they
stretched out their heads and shook themselves in
their harness as if already on their way to the sta-
ble. -The appearance, however, of the ostenta-
tiously parading porter at the entrance to the house
prevented a da caj)o, and a few words of encour-
agement spoken to the horses brought them into a
trot, and the large heavy travelling carriage, with
the usual noise and commotion, under the arch-
way.

" My dear Melanie," cried Cyrilla, eagerly, " we
have been expecting you for hours ! the day has
appeared endless to me ! We thought from your
letter that you would arrive at two o'clock."

" So I should — or even earlier, had I been tra-
velling with the President ; but when I am alone I
never hurry myself : if you are punctual you will
win his heart directly. Let me look at you," she
added, drawing her towards the window, "you

e2

82 CYRILLA.

have grown taller of course, but your face seems
just the same, as well as I can judge in this dark
room."

"Justine, bring the lamp," said Cyrilla, " and a

something to eat. I dare say you are hungry,"

she added, turning to Melanie, who was throwing
aside her shawl.

" Not at all. I dined at Keichenhall, where we
last changed horses, and one of the causes of my
delay was going to see the salt springs there: I
had to descend under ground, and they made me
put on a coat and a broad-brimmed hat, and gave
me a light in my hand. I make it a point to see
every thing of that kind now, as I am at jjlresent
writing a description of my rambles in my native
land."

" Are you, indeed ! " said Cyrilla, " you must
let me read it before it is printed — what is the
name to be?"

" I think I shall call it, l Wild Flowers plucked
by the Way to form a Wreath of Prose and Poesy ! '
You have no idea of the importance of an attrac-
tive name for works of this kind. But now tell
me — where is Fernanda — and where is "

" They are at my aunt's, where a large party have
assembled expressly to see you. It is very annoy-
ing ; for, as you only remain one night here, we
would rather have had you all to ourselves."

" It would have been pleasanter, as I don't want

CYRILLA. 83

to see your Salzburg people," she answered, taking
her sister's arm, and walking into the adjoining
room. " Tell me, love," she continued, looking
round her with a calm scrutinizing gaze, " tell me,
is your — a — our mother satisfied to live in these
apartments?"

u O yes ; she says we ought to be glad to have
them. Had you but seen them when we first
came here, you would have had reason to be sur-
prised, but since they have been properly furnished,
they do well enough. We never see any one here,
as we are obliged to spend almost our whole time
with my aunt, who scarcely allows Fernanda a few
hours a-day to practise either her singing or any
thing else, as she is accustomed to do."

u Practise ! must she still practise?"

" Fernanda does, regularly."

" And is then your mother — just — what — she
used to be?" asked Melanie, with some hesita-
tion.

" I don't quite understand you," said Cyrilla,
looking towards her inquiringly.

"I mean does she come into your room in

the morning with her watch in her hand, saying,
1 Time gone past — never can be recalled.' Are
you obliged to get up as early as formerly and
learn all day?"

" O no," cried Cyrilla, laughing. " I wish

84 CYRILLA.

mamma were strong enough to do so now ! It was
latterly Fernanda who took her place, and used to
talk of the proper employment of time, and the
necessity of acquiring knowledge."

" Good heavens ! " cried Melanie, with a look of
alarm, " you don't mean to say that Fernanda, my
sister Fernanda, has become a pedagogue in petti-
coats!"

" A what?" asked Cyrilla.

" No matter — is Fernanda like her mother?"

« Yes, very."

" In mind or person?"

" Both."

" "Well, thank goodness you are not — you are
the image of my handsome — my glorious father !"
She bent forward and kissed her, as the French
say, with effusion.

"Did you do you not like mamma?"

asked Cyrilla, hesitatingly.

" Don't look so shocked, love — I daresay I shall
like her now extremely — In fact I did like her
formerly as much as my fear of her would per-
mit."

" How could any one be afraid of mamma?"
exclaimed Cyrilla.

" Not good children like you and Fernanda ; but
has she never told you what a wild spoiled creature
she found me when she married ? How unmanage-

CYRILLA. 85

able I was — how I was sent to school, and returned
home in the holidays not having learned any-
thing?"

" No. She told me you had a great talent for
drawing and painting, which you neglected most
unpardonably."

This was a fact of which Melanie did not like
the recollection. It had been the remark of one of
her schoolfellows in a moment of envious feeling,
" That Mademoiselle d'Adlerkron inherited her
genius for drawing from her maternal grandfather,
who had been a painter!" From that day Mela-
nie had thrown aside her crayons, and no threats
or entreaties had ever been able to induce her to
cultivate the talent that so eminently predominated
in her nature as to be inextinguishable. The ideas
denied one form of expression sought another : the
fertile imagination found vent in rhymes and in the
composition of picturesque dresses, which were
shown to advantage by the placing of her tall
graceful figure in the most fascinating but some-
times too evidently studied attitudes.

ul never draw," she said after a pause; "but
the little knowledge I have of colours is very use-
ful in choosing dresses. I hope you know how to
dress yourself well, Cyrilla? I assure you it is
quite as necessary as any other accomplishment for
a woman."

"I have had but little experience," answered

86 CYRILLA.

Cjrilla. " We have always been so poor that
economy has been our first object."

u How very distressing ! In fact, our aunt up-
stairs is your only hope, I suppose?"

"Exactly — and rather a forlorn one too. But
I am sure she is expecting you all this time ! "

" Let her expect me a little longer then — she is
not likely to leave me a legacy."

" As to that," said Cyrilla, " we are unpleasantly
enough in her power ; for if she refuse her consent
to either Fernanda's or my marriage, no matter
how eligible it may be, we must wait until her
death to inherit my uncle's legacy, and her life is
nearly as good as ours. Rupert is her heir. She
informed us that she had adopted him, before we
had been an hour in her house. I think she did
so to prevent our expectations from being too
great."

" One might almost think that wealth attracted
wealth," said Melanie, " rich people inherit so
much more than poor. My aunt would do better
were she to bestow some of her large fortune on
you and Fernanda instead of Rupert, who does not
want, and will not thank her for it."

"We shall see him in Berlin, shall we not?"
asked Cyrilla.

" Of course, and as we shall be there a week or
ten days, he can hardly avoid seeing you."

" Hardly avoid seeing me!" repeated Cyrilla.

CYRILLA. 87

" There is no use in concealing from you, Cy-
rilla, that he showed such unpardonable indiffer-
ence— in fact looked so bored when I spoke to him
of you, that I resolved he should not hear that you
were to accompany me home. I don't think he
even observed my silence about you the last time I
saw him — he talked of nothing but Virginie de
Lindesmar's marriage to the Vicomte de Rubigny.
Now, well as he knows the Lindesmars, they ought
not to interest him more than his own cousins-
german !"

" I suppose," said Cyrilla, thoughtfully, u he
does not like poor relations."

" O no, I must not do him injustice," cried
Melanie, warmly ; u that is not at all like him — he
is both good-natured and generous, and it is im-
possible not to forgive his carelessness when one
sees that he does not mean anything unkind.
However, he will be at Exfort the beginning of
May, and then you will see enough of him to judge
for yourself. What noise is that ? Who is com-
ing?"

" Mamma and Fernanda most probably," an-
swered Cyrilla, opening the door; and she then
watched with some curiosity the meeting between
her mother and stepsister. Nothing could be more
cordial. It seemed as if the thin bent form and
care-worn features of her mother had dispelled the
awe of Melanie on the one side ; while the affection-

88 CYRILLA.

ate manner and dignified grace of her still beauti-
ful stepdaughter had, on the other, nearly removed
the misgivings which reminiscences of twelve years
before had inspired.

" Is Melanie at all altered, mamma?" asked
Cyrilla, as she observed the almost anxious scru-
tiny with which her mother observed her.

" No — yes — that is, her face is the same — her
figure has grown much fuller."

"Oh don't say so," exclaimed Melanie, "the
idea makes me miserable. I should like to be just
as Cyrilla is — slight, yet not thin."

" Cyrilla must have quite grown out of your
recollection," observed Fernanda.

" Very nearly, and you too — let me look at
you." Fernanda bore the inspection with a good-
humoured smile.

" I could be afraid of you, Fernanda — you look
too sensible, and," she added with a sigh, " I fear
trap jpeu sensible for me ! "

" And yet," said Fernanda, archly, " I like
poetry, and know one little volume of poems quite
by heart ! "

"Is it possible!" cried Melanie, blushing with
pleasure ; " and I did not dare to send any of my
works to you !"

" Pray send them to us in future," said her step-
mother ; " your poems are very pretty and lady-
like."

CYRILLA. 89

" I did not know," said Melanie, " whether or
not you allowed my sisters to read fiction of any
kind. You formerly disapproved of it, I know."

" Because," said her mother, smiling ; " you
were at that time so fond of such works, that you
would not read anything else."

" I don't know what mamma may have been
formerly," said Cyrilla, laughing ; " but she can
now, with all her wisdom, become as absorbed as
any one in a new novel ! "

" I am glad to hear it," said Melanie ; "for my
recollections made me suppose that she condemned
all works of imagination. I may now perhaps
venture to say, that those who do so are deprived
not only of one of the greatest intellectual enjoy-
ments, but of two-thirds of the literature of every
known language."

" Do you hear, mamma *? " said Cyrilla.

" Yes, and I agree with Melanie; but there are
some years of one's life that ought not to be devoted
to mere i enjoyment,' even if it be, as she correctly
observes, * intellectual.' I should not, my dear
child, have limited your reading of such works, had
I not a few years ago discovered a tendency to ro-
mantic sentimentality in your disposition, which
might have caused you much imaginary and some
real unhappiness in the course of your life : but,"
she added, glancing towards Melanie, " but I am
happy to say all that seems now quite eradicated."

90 CYRTLLA.

Melanie bent forward eagerly, as if about to
speak, but suddenly drawing in her breath, re-
mained silent. Perhaps her stepmother observed
the movement, for she continued, as if some oppo-
sition had been made to her last remark, u Yes, I
am happy to say so, for nothing can be more
wretched than a girl who is poor, and therefore in
some degree compelled to marry, having her head
full of romantic ideas that never can be realized :
either she refuses establishments which might con-
tent any rational woman, or, accepting one, her
whole existence afterwards is a series of petty
annoyances, which, if she have more feeling than
intellect, end by completely undermining her do-
mestic happiness. "

Melanie, confused and visibly shrinking, made
no attempt to interrupt the speaker, who continued,
" Nothing is more unfortunate for a woman than
to have a too exalted and poetical idea of the pas-
sion of love ; disappointment must be her portion in
such a case, for there is little poetry in real life, and
the sooner we learn to be satisfied with plain homely
reality* the better. I shall consign Cyrilla to
your care to-morrow, my dear Melanie, the healthi-
est and happiest of human beings: watch over these
inestimable blessings, and bring her back to me
as "

" You are filling my mind with doubts and
fears," exclaimed Melanie, anxiously interrupting

CYR1LLA. 91

her. x " How can I be sure that the climate of the
north of Germany will suit her constitution as well
as that of Italy? She is no longer a child — may
find somebody at Exfort on whom she may bestow
her affections "

u In either of these cases, your responsibility
ceases," said the Baroness Carl, with a satisfied
smile. u I have not the least objection to her finding
1 somebody ' at Exfort worthy of her affection, as,
with the exception of Fernanda, I know no one
more likely to be happy herself, and promote the
happiness of another, as Cyrilla." While speaking,
the idea of Rupert filled her mind as completely as
if he alone existed, as if there were not other
' bodies ' in the world possessing quite as much
attraction for her daughter as her refractory anti-
matrimonially disposed nephew.

" I think," said Fernanda, u we ought now to
go to my aunt."

92 CYRILLA.

CHAPTER VII.

The effect produced by Melanie's " graceful pres-
ence " on her aunt's guests is not worth recording;
still less worthy of notice would be the journey
northward with Cyrilla, in a comfortable unadven-
turous travelling carriage, during the short days of
a not particularly cheerful winter. They reached
Berlin a day later than they had intended, as
Melanie never left any place at the time appointed ;
but the President was still at the hotel, and appa-
rently so immersed in business, that they had more
than a week still at their disposal. It was spent
in visiting Melanie's friends and acquaintances,
introducing Cyrilla to them, drives in the environs
when the weather permitted, and presentations to
the different members of the royal family.

The day on which Cyrilla was to be presented to
the Crown Princess arrived — the hour appointed
was late, but Melanie retired to her dressing-room
soon after four o'clock. She was at that age when

CYRILLA. 93

art and attention can still almost quite supply the
charm of youth, and therefore considered her toilet
an affair of great importance. " Besides," she ob-
served half apologetically to her sister, who laughed
at the idea of so much time being so employed,
11 Besides, my dear, we have been out the whole
afternoon, and my nose being more susceptible of
cold than yours, if I were hurried in dressing, I
should infallibly have a flushed face all the evening.
You can amuse yourself trying the new music you
chose to-day."

" But do you not think it may disturb the Presi-
dent?" asked Cyrilla ; "he is in the next room
writing."

" 0 no; he says your music never disturbs him,
he quite delights in hearing you sing."

Cyrilla turned to the pianoforte, and began to
look over a quantity of music that lay upon it,
occasionally singing, but more frequently playing
the different parts intended for the voice, until a
thick snow-shower, beginning to hurry on the close
of evening, made her efforts to distinguish the notes
fruitless. She rose, watched for a few seconds the
hurrying pedestrians in the street, and then, walk-
ing to the other end of the room, took possession of
that side of a comfortable causeuse which enabled
her to turn away from the cheerless prospect that
the windows offered.

"While still indulging in a few sage thoughts on

94 CYRILLA.

the shortness of winter days, the gloominess of
falling snow, and the bore of presentations at court,
which gave people the trouble of dressing — going
out — waiting — and all for from ten to fifteen
minutes' conversation (if such it may be called)
with some royal personage, who had previously to
be informed of one's name and condition, in order
to be able to ask the few uninteresting questions
usual on such occasions, she heard the sound of
quick approaching steps, and a moment after a tall
officer entered the room, saying to the servant, who
had in vain endeavoured to announce him, — " Tell
the Countess I have been at Potsdam the last ten
days, and beg of her not in the least to hurry her
toilet." He evidently did not at first perceive
Cyrilla ; for, throwing his gloves on the table, he
unbuckled his sabre and walked to the window —
then, lightly humming a tune, turned back and
strode towards the stove, where he suddenly became
aware of the presence of a half-reclining figure
enveloped in a large shawl, with a black velvet
bonnet and long veil that concealed the face nearly
as much as the gathering darkness made it indis-
tinct.

" Pardon " he said with a careless bow. u I

was not aware that any one was in the room — I
am waiting to see the Countess Falkenstein." He
then seated himself, and pushing aside some pamph-
lets and cards which lay on the table, took up a

CYR1LLA. 95

small book bound in red morocco leather, and
closed with a gold pencil case, which Cyrilla knew
contained her sister's manuscript poems. Seeing
him deliberately open it, she extended her hand
hastily, saying, " Excuse me, I must beg to have
that book, it is it is not an Album."

" I know very well what it is," he answered,
smiling ; and for the first time looking at her with
a sort of half-awakened curiosity. " If I were not
the most inattentive of listeners, I should by this
time have known all Melanie's poems by heart."

Placing the book on the table, he drew his chair
closer to the causeuse, and attempted to*catch a
furtive glimpse of her face without being rude ; but
Cyrilla now purposely turned her head away. She
knew, from the words " Melanie's Poems," that her
cousin Eupert was beside her ; and, although not
offended at the indifference which he had so evi-
dently manifested about her, a slight feeling of
mortification, which she found it impossible to
repress, made her resolve not to be the first to
claim relationship.

" Then you have read the contents of this little
book ?" he continued.

" Yes."

" Are an intimate friend of my cousin Melanie's,
perhaps?"

11 Yes."

A pause ensued, and the silence in the room was

96 CYRILLA.

broken by an ill fastened window-blind of painted
canvass descending spontaneously — at first slowly,
but ending with a jerk, covering one of the win-
dows, and excluding so much of the little remain-
ing light that they could merely distinguish each
other's figures. Cyrilla's first inclination was to
leave the room, her next to indulge in a gay laugh.
She yielded to the latter without restraint, and
before it had ceased, her cousin suddenly started
up, exclaiming, u Can you forgive me for not recog-
nising you? The darkness — the impossibility of
seeing your features — the — the — surprise at so un-
expected a meeting Have you been long here ?

When did you return from Italy '?"

" Some months ago."

" Indeed ! I thought you had only just arrived.
Have you been staying at Exfort ?"

" No, but I am going there now."

" Your mother told me "

" My mother !" repeated Cyrilla in astonishment.

" Perhaps I am mistaken, it may have been your
sister "

" You must be doubly mistaken, for my sister
determined not to tell you any thing about me.
You seemed to feel so little interest when she spoke
of me "

u You surely would not wish me to let her know
the deep interest I must always feel in every thing
that concerns you !"

CYRILLA. 97

" And why not ? It is surely very natural."

" Oh7 un — doubtedly but she is, we

must hope, unacquainted with a You know

what I mean."

" Indeed 1 do not in the least."

" Well, but you may easily suppose that I could
not speak to her as I would to your mother, so I —
pretended an indifference I was far from feeling."

" You pretended indifference ! The feint was
little creditable to you, Rupert !"

" Excuse me. I think otherwise ; it was for
your sake, not mine, and I expected praise instead
of blame."

"I don't comprehend We don't under-
stand each other at all it seems You are not in

the least what I expected you to be !" said Cyrilla,
leaning back with a gesture of annoyance.

u Provoking creature !" exclaimed Rupert start-
ing from his chair, and beginning to walk up and
down the room. Cyrilla, to whom his words and
conduct every moment became more inexplicable,
rose also and moved towards the door. " Stay,
stay," he cried eagerly, placing himself before her.
" Do not let us part in anger — rather let me take
advantage of this opportunity to explain anything
which may have offended you in my letter. It
was your mother who insisted on my writing. She
dictated every word — would not let me change a
single hard expression — said that nothing else

VOL. I. F

98 CYRILLA.

would ever induce you to give up the idea of

Pshaw you must understand me now !"

u Less than ever/' said Cyrilla, quietly. u I
never received any letter from you, and could al-
most imagine you were talking to some one else,
if your words did not remind me of both my mo-
ther's and sister's avoidance of your name, — their
determination never to speak of you. What you
have done to offend them, I know not ; for my
own part, I hoped to have renewed the unrestrained
intercourse of "

" Hah !" exclaimed Rupert, retiring quickly a
few steps from her.

" Don't be alarmed," said Cyrilla with a slight
degree of irony in her voice ; " I was merely going
to observe that with me at least you might be
intimate and unreserved, without the horrors of
matrimony in perspective."

" True — very true," said Rupert thoughtfully.
" If you really can forgive my not returning your

I mean a if, in short, you will be satisfied

with friendship, why let us be friends, though

— fate has decreed that we should never be more
nearly connected."

" Your manner is odd, almost ungracious," said
Cyrilla ; " but I suppose I must take you as you
are, and try to forget my disappointment at finding
you exactly the contrary of all I had hoped. I
accept, then, the unfriendly offer of friendship you

CYRILLA. 99

have made me, and assure you," she added, half
laughing, " that I have no designs whatever either
on your heart or fortune." She held out her hand
as she spoke.

He seized it with a sort of vehemence, exclaim-
ing, " Oh, Virginie, Virginie, I don't know yet
whether you are a — devil or an angel, but," he
added in a whisper, " don't lead me into temptation
any more, for "

"Are you mad?" cried Cyrilla, forcibly with-
drawing her hand from his. " What paltry affec-
tation is this — pretending to forget my very name !"

11 No, I don't forget it," said Eupert, u neither
what it was, nor will I forget what it is, if I can
help it."

u There is — there must be some strange confu-
sion here," said Cyrilla, slowly ; " Rupert, do you
know who I am ? "

fl I should think so," he answered with a short
laugh.

5f Then why do you call me Virginie?"

" I beg your pardon," he said, bowing ironically,
" I should perhaps have said Madame la Vicom-
tesse, and have hoped that M. le Vicomte se portait

" Ah," cried Cyrilla, " now I perceive that you
have taken me for some other person, and I am
glad of it, very glad that all your odd speeches

100 CYRILLA.

were intended for a Virginie somebody and not for
our cousin Cyrilla Adlerkron."
Fortunately for Rupert, who stood petrified with
amazement, the door at this moment opened and
Melanie entered.

" Why, Cyrilla, is it possible that you are still
here? " she exclaimed, u the carriage will be at the
door in ten minutes, and you will not be dressed.
Rupert, I am glad to see you, — that is, I cannot
see you at all ; but I am happy that you have found
your way here at last. I thought I should have
been obliged to introduce you to Cyrilla, but it
seems you have become acquainted without my as-
sistance."

u Yes," said Cyrilla, " we have commenced our
acquaintance oddly enough, and the impression
made on me has not been altogether satisfac-
tory."

" The infernal darkness of the room, the extra-
ordinary resemblance of both voice and laugh,"
muttered Rupert.

" After all it was but a mistake," said Cyrilla
gaily ; u let us forget it and be friends, though, as
you so heroically observed, fate has decreed that ice
should never be more nearly connected.''''

" You cannot easily be more nearly connected
than you are," said Melanie, who had been too
much occupied ordering lamps to have heard more

CYRILLA. 101

than the last words ; " the relationship is so near,
that I have no doubt Kupert will presume npon it,
and pa)- you all sorts of attention, — that is, when he
has nothing else to do, or does not happen to be
particularly engaged with half-a-dozen others. He
does not think it necessary," she added pointedly,
" under any other circumstances to be attentive to
his cousins"

" Judge of me for yourself, Cyrilla," said Ku-
pert, " and do not let this imlucky beginning pre-
judice you against me, — the more so, as I can never
explain or excuse myself in any way to you."

"Pray, Cyrilla, go and dress," cried Melanie a
little impatiently ; "we dare not be late on such an
occasion, — you can talk nonsense with Rupert some
other time."

" Wait a moment and let me look at you," said
Rupert, eagerly.

" Xo ; but you may wait until I return if you
choose," she answered carelessly.

He stood with his arms folded, looking after her
as she walked quickly down the passage, along
which candles and lamps were being carried in all
directions, when, obliged to move aside to admit
the bearers of lights into the room, he turned to
Melanie and observed : " You might have let me
know that Cyrilla was here."

" You did not choose to listen to me when I
spoke of her to you before I went to Salzburg,"

102 CYRILLA.

she replied with affected indifference, as she turned
to the light and began to arrange her bracelets.

Rupert bit his lip, and then asked abruptly,
" Is she handsome?"

" No, not exactly."

:: Merely good-looking, perhaps?"

Melanie twirled her bracelets as she answered,
u She is not as handsome as I am — was, I ought to
say."

" Oh," said Rupert smiling, " that is not neces-
sary. She might be very handsome without bear-
ing a comparison with you ! "

" I suppose you mean to say something flatter-
ing, Rupert, but you have misunderstood me.
Cyrilla is not at all what is called handsome."

" I thought as much," said Rupert ; " so after
all she is a rosy-cheeked fair-haired girl, such as
one sees by dozens all over the world."

" You will not easily find a dozen Cyrillas,"
said Melanie ; " Wilhelm says she only wants a
pair of wings to make her an angel."

" The President said so ! Then she must, after
all, be something very uncommon."

" Only wait until you hear her sing."

" 0, I am prepared for all sorts of accomplish-
ments," cried Rupert, laughing ; " I have heard
enough of my aunt Sophy's system of education to
expect wonders."

" And yet," said Melanie, " all the instruction

CYRILLA. 103

in the world, without natural talent, is of little
use. Even the short time I was in Salzburg
enabled me to discover that the same pains, and
the same instruction bestowed on different charac-
ters and capabilities, produce quite different results.
Fernanda possesses acquirements — Cyrilla accom-
plishments."

" A nice distinction/' observed Rupert ; u but I
should have required more than one day to make
the discovery."

" And yet it was evident enough," rejoined Me-
lanie, u though among the crowd of people collected
at my aunt's, the evening I was there, I doubt if
one person among them was aware of the difference,
— in fact, the most of the company seemed to think
the astonishing rapidity with which Fernanda's
fingers flew from one end of the pianoforte to the
other much more admirable than Cyrilla's fault-
less performance of a ' song without words ; ' and
in vocal music, if they gave her the preference, it
was because she sang our national melodies, which
they understood better than Italian."

" Most probably she has a good natural voice,"
said Rupert : " our uncle Carl might have been a
prima tenor e."

u Cyrilla's voice scarcely seems to belong to this
world," said Melanie enthusiastically; " and the
manner in which she accompanies herself is quite

■

104 CYEILLA.

indescribable, — so playful, so melancholy, and at
times so deeply passionate."

" You are exciting my curiosity," said Rupert :
" but I must make allowance for some poetical
license in the description."

" No," said Melanie, seriously, u it is but truth ;
and the more I learn to appreciate her accomplish-
ments, the more I regret the youthful rebellion
which deprived me of such advantages in educa-
tion."

" You have educated yourself after a very plea-
sant fashion," said Rupert, " and I don't think my
aunt would ever have been able to have pedagogued
you into being other than you are ; but you seem
to like her better than you did when we last spoke
of her, — what has caused the change ?"

" I fear," said Melanie with a sigh, " I greatly
fear she is dying. You never saw such a spectre,
and neither Fernanda nor Cyrilla seemed to per-
ceive it, so gradual has most probably been the
decay. I had not courage to contradict or even
expostulate with her, although her opinions on a
very important subject, with regard to Cyrilla, are
diametrically opposed to mine."

" Videlicet, marriage," said Rupert : " so you
have been informed of their plan ; but it will be
very unlike you if you join them, and, moreover,
perfectly useless, I can assure you."

CYEILLA. 105

u I know of no plan ; but from what my aunt
said I see she thinks that Cyrilla's want of fortune
ought to induce her to marry from motives of in-
terest ; and she has not only inculcated this prin-
ciple, but in the most systematic manner has
repressed every inclination to more exalted senti-
ments,— has endeavoured to banish every idea that
is not absolutely saturated with worldly wisdom
from the minds of both her daughters !

" You don't say so ? " cried Rupert with forced
seriousness : " actually saturated with worldly wis-
dom ; and you discovered all this in twenty-four
hours !"

u My aunt," said Melanie, " seemed to think it
her duty to impress on my mind the necessity of
Cyrilla's making a judicious marriage, — she talked
of nothing else, and I listened to all she said on
the subject in silence, but determined, even while
she was speaking, that through me a new and ideal
world should be opened to my sister."

" And so," said Rupert, " you are of course
working as hard as you can at your favourite Jean
Paul?"

" We have begun to read his works together;
but the vein of poetical humour which pervades
everything he has written is almost lost upon her.
In the story of Siebenkaes the parts I most ad-
mired made no impression ; and when I asked her
yesterday what had pleased her most, she said it

f 2

106 CYR1LLA.

was the description of Siebenkaes sitting with
his young wife in the evening intending to write,
and desiring her to snuff the candle for him :
sometimes she snuffed it too close, and sometimes
she forgot to snuff it at all, and at length, instead
of thinking of his writing, he "became altogether
occupied with his wife and the snuffers ! "

" It is odd enough," said Kupert, " but that little
scene, on account of its extreme simplicity, made a
lasting impression on me too."

u You ! " exclaimed Melanie ; " but who ever ex-
pected anything else from you ? With your man-
ner and appearance, no one would give you credit
for half the feeling which I know you to possess ;
but that Cyrilla, with her angelic face and ethereal
figure, should, by an absurd prejudice of her
mother's, be made absolutely commonplace and
prosaical, is, I must say, provoking ! I expected
a congenial spirit, and find a light-hearted girl
quite disposed to join Wilhelm in laughing at
me."

" I think, after all, I may like her," said Rupert.
" Of course you will ; every one must like her.
I quite idolize her already ; and am almost sure
that, with much of her father's indomitable gaiety,
she has inherited his strong feelings also, and that
there is a latent spark of romance in her nature
which only requires time and judicious treatment
to burst into flame! "

CYRILLA. 107

" Allow me," said Rupert, " to point out to you
how much better it would be to leave Cyrilla as she
is, free from all sorts of fires or flames. Now, don't
be offended," he added, as Melanie turned away
from him with a gesture of annoyance ; u don't be
offended, but listen to my entreaty that you will
leave Cyrilla to work out her own scheme of happi-
ness without any interference on your part ; and
above all things let her be natural, for though you
are very charming as an original, a copy, especially
if it were a juvenile one, and without your fund of
information to draw upon, would be the ne plus
ultra of absurdity."

u There is much more danger of Cyrilla' s being
unhappy than absurd," said Melanie. u Fancy
such a creature as she is married to a man who
cannot or will not participate in the joys and sor-
rows that chequer this life — who is not capable of
understanding what love, pure ideal love is, no,
not even byname — who "

u Halt ! " cried Kupert, taking up his sabre and
beginning to buckle it on with affected haste ; "if
you have got on the subject of ideal love, we had
better end our conversation. But before I go, I
really must beg of you either to spare Cyrilla the
description of your ideal love, or to tell her hon-
estly that, though you talked in the same way
twelve years ago, and sentimentalized with my poor
tutor Englmann until his sorrows were little

108 CYRILLA.

inferior to those of Werther, you actually after-
wards in liis very presence bestowed your fair
hand on his Excellency Count Falkenstein. Let
her at least know that one can talk in this way and
act in another."

" Rupert, you are unkind to speak so lightly of
my first, my only love — the morning-star of my
existence, which, however the glare of day may
diminish in lustre, still, believe me, moves along
the firmament of my memory, and becomes visible
in all the darker moments of my life ! "

Rupert coughed slightly and covered his mouth to
conceal a smile : he always did so when he either
knew or suspected his cousin of adapting the poeti-
cal ideas of others to her own use. She under-
stood what he meant, and continued more ration-
ally : " Heaven knows I would have married
Valentine Englmann if we had had enough be-
tween us to supply the common necessaries of
life ; but you must remember that I was portion-
less, and "

" My dear Melanie, do not for a moment suppose
that I blame you ; you acted wisely in every sense
of the word. Englmann would have been miser-
able, and you still more so."

" No, Eupert, no. Never were two beings more
congenial in mind, never was love based more truly
on sentiment and a mysterious combination of
spirits."

CYRILLA. 109

" Very Platonic," said Rupert, making an odd
grimace ; " but I would rather not hear you talk
about that."

" And why not ? Do not the Swedenborgians
say that the spirit in another world meeting a con-
genial spirit can unite itself, and "

" Never mind what they say," cried Rupert, in-
terrupting her. " It was in this world, twelve
years ago, that you wished to unite yourself to a
veiy good-looking and talented young man, but he
being poor and ignoble you were not allowed to do
so — fortunately for him and for yourself ; for what
sort of a parson's wife would you have made after
all, Melanie? Only imagine yourself now at Wind-
horst with half-a-dozen obstreperous children ! "

" I should have liked to have had children,"
said Melanie, sighing.

u Yes, little counts and countesses, perhaps, with
plenty of French bonnes, and nurserymaids to take
care of them, but not a pack of turbulent boys who
must be washed and dressed with your own hands
every morning. Instead of your rose-coloured bou-
doir, fancy the well-scoured parlour that would be
your sitting-room, with no possible escape from these
children, who, though very well behaved, all tilings
considered, still, like all such animals, scream,
shout, quarrel, ride on sticks, upset the furniture,
blow their noses awry "

u You describe so graphically, Rupert," cried

110 CYRILLA.

Melanie, laughing, u that one would almost imagine
you had experienced all this."

u So I have ; but you know I rather like noise,
and am very fond of children. Whenever I am at
Windhorst, the whole Englmann family come to
me, and you have no idea how gay they make the
old place, or how they enjoy themselves, chasing
each other through the large rooms and passages.
I have more children than dogs with me when I
go out to walk, and am not half as much dis-
composed as their father when they grow trouble-
some or tired. You never saw a fellow so put out
as Englmann when he has been obliged to carry
home a child ! "

" A man of such exalted and refined ideas
" began Melanie.

" Ah, bah ! when a man marries and has six
children, he should not mind carrying one of them
occasionally ; but, with the exception of a little
remnant of over-refinement, he is the pleasantest
companion possible."

" I heard," said Melanie, u that you had im-
proved his house, and assisted him in various
ways."

u I believe the best way to assist him is through
his children," said Rupert; " so I have sent his
eldest boy to school."

" O, Rupert, how kind of you ! How I wish I
could do something for him — I mean for them ! "

CYRILLA. Ill

u You can," said Rupert, fj and you can oblige
me at the same time, if you will find out all about
the different girls' schools at Strasburg. Engl-
mann's wife has consented to part with her eldest
daughter also ; so, next autumn, after you have
made the necessary inquiries about religion, and
morals, and all the other things, we can send her
off too. I was laughed at enough concerning my
godson Rupert 5 but if I were to begin again with
Rupertina, as they have barbarously christened her,
there would be no end to the joke."

" You may depend on my writing to Madame
Joubert to-morrow," said Melanie. u You know
she has now the management of the school at

which I passed eight years of my life But do

you know I should like to follow your example,
and do something for these children, if you think it

would not be disagreeable to him I might adopt

one of them — I wonder I never thought of that
before ! Wilhelm would have no objection, I am

sure tell me, are any of the younger ones pretty

or interesting-looking, like their father?"

" They are all strong healthy children, but I
cannot recollect that any of them can justly make
pretensions to beauty. Fritz is well enough, but
you would think his eyes too small, and his mouth
too large."

" Oh, I don't like boys at all — I meant one of
the girls."

112 CYRILLA.

" There is but one otlier girl, little Tony; she is
not in the least pretty, hut the merriest, oddest
little thing you ever saw. The best plan would be
for you to go with me to Windhorst for a day or two,
and judge for yourself. You have not seen Engl-
mann for twelve years; a meeting might be very
conducive to your happiness."

" No, Rupert, it would be a renewal of grief."

" I am quite convinced, Melanie, that seeing him
as he now is, the hard-working father of six chil-
dren, with a voluminous white cravat instead of an
open shirt collar, — a very long-tailed coat instead of
the picturesque velvet garment of his student days,
— a well shaved patient-looking face instead of the
mustachioed demi-poetical countenance, which I
can still dimly remember, would deprive your recol-
lections of so much of their romance that you would
be a happier woman during the rest of your life."

" O, Rupert, I would not see him so for all the
world — would not destroy my ideal of all that is
noble, poetical, beautiful ! O, why have you
dimmed the light that so brightly illumined my
early days, and even by reflection chased the sha-
dows of the present ! "

u Because I want to chase away these imaginary
shadows, and I think the patient face and long-
tailed coat will greatly assist me."

" But why did you say that he wore a long-tailed
coat?" asked Melanie, reproachfully.

CYRILLA. 113

" Because he does — -just think of him always as
I have now described him, and the President will
rise enormously in your estimation."

" The President — "Wilhelm — I had almost for-
gotten. This is the anniversary of our wedding-
day, and I wrote some verses to remind him of it;
he must have found them on the table when he
returned from his walk."

She moved towards a door leading into an ad-
joining room and softly opened it. The President
was seated at a table covered with papers, pam-
phlets, and writing materials; the concentrated
light of a shaded lamp fell on a number of business-
like letters, and he was so engaged shoving them
into their envelopes, that he did not hear his wife's
step as she approached him. He was a tall, pale-
complexioned, strongly built man, his head, large
in its proportions, was but sparingly covered with
silver-grey hair which did not conceal any part of
his high intellectual forehead ; beneath his thick
and still dark eyebrows were clear light grey eyes,
the usual expression of which denoted the earnest-
ness of deep thought, not unfrequently verging on
severity; his nose, large and inclining to aquiline,
suited well his firmly closing mouth and square-
formed chin; his manners were decided, almost
haughty ; his voice, deep and sonorous, was seldom
heard in light discourse; he was a man more cal-
culated to inspire respect, perhaps fear, than love,

114 CYRILLA.

and such had been the case. There was a
painful degree of uncertainty, almost diffidence, in
Melanie's manner as she approached him, and
whispered rather than said, " Wilhelm, did you
not find — something — on your table ? "

"A pink-papered perfumed piece of poetry! " he
answered, taking up a pen and beginning to write
the addresses of his letters. " The fact is, Melanie,
I have had such a multiplicity of affairs, that I have
not had time to read it."

She stretched out her arm with a look of deep
mortification to regain possession of the lines, which
she felt were disparaged by his alliteration; but he
laid his hand on hers, saying, u Don't be offended,
it shall be read the moment I have despatched these
letters to the minister; this is my last night here
you know, and everything must be in order before
I leave this table. I really should be obliged if you
would read it for me, or tell me the contents while
I seal these papers;" and he lit a taper and began
to drop the melting wax, as she turned away,
saying,—

" O, it was merely to remind you that this was
the anniversary of our wedding-day; it is of no
consequence! "

He first pressed his massive seal firmly on the
wax, and then turning suddenly round, exclaimed,
u But it is of great consequence; why did you not
tell me before I went out to walk — I could then

CYRILLA. 115

have gone to a jeweller's, and bought you some
trinket."

Melanie coloured violently, and turning to
Rupert, who stood in the doorway, she said, in a
voice trembling from vexation, u Such are my
trials, Rupert; you may laugh at them, but — they
are very hard to be borne by any one whose feel-
ings are not quite blunted."

" Now, don't be absurd, Melanie," said Count
Falkenstein, holding out his hand; " I never could
make speeches such as you like to hear, but I am
happy to be able to say, that, all things considered,
we have worked on very well together these twelve
years, and I trust much rational happiness is still
in store for us. Next time, take care to let me
know the day before, that "

" That you may buy me some trinket," she said,
interrupting him.

" I meant to say brooches and bracelets — you
are fond of such things I know."

" Believe me that, so bestowed, they have as

little value for me as pink-papered perfumed

poetry for you! "

" Severe, but just," said the President, half
laughing. " Now, Melanie, don't be vexed — see, I
am going to do a little sentiment for you; until
such time as my letters are sealed and despatched,
(for business must ever go before pleasure,) your
lines shall remain here — in my waistcoat pocket —

116 CYRILLA.

just over my heart you see — could any reasonable
woman desire more?'7

Melanie half smiled.

" Where are you going this evening?" he asked,
evidently trying to appear interested about her
plans; but he continued writing while he added,
u That yellow satin petticoat is perfectly dazzling,
and you look uncommonly handsome ! "

" Cyrilla is to be presented to the Crown Prin-
cess," answered Melanie, walking towards a pier
glass in order to remove carefully the tears which
had gathered in her eyes. A bronze clock com-
menced striking the horn, the carriage was an-
nounced, and a moment after Cyrilla appeared.
Kupert sprang towards her, but accustomed to
punctuality in time, she only glanced towards her
sister, and then hurried down the stairs. As he
followed with Melanie, he asked where he should
be likely to meet them in the course of the evening.
" We are going to the theatre, and afterwards to
the Polinskys."

" Au revoir, then," cried Rupert gaily; " if I
have time I shall be sure to see you again."

The few hours, however, which intervened
sufficed to renew all his distrust, and increase his
repugnance to a nearer acquaintance with his cousin
Cyrilla ; so, though curiosity induced him even at a
late hour to follow her to the Polinskys, he stationed
himself silently near the door of the room in which

CYRILLA. 117

she was sitting, and contemplated her at what he
considered a safe distance. He saw a fair, a very
fair girl, youthful-looking to a degree that made the
calm nonchalance of her manner remarkable, as she
leaned back in a large low crimson chair, quite sur-
rounded by men of various ages, and apparently
able to amuse or interest them all. Rupert mis-
took the ease of habit for coquetry, and muttered,
" This is another accomplishment, I suppose; and
she has got the start of Melanie here too, without
being half as handsome. How could my aunt
imagine I should fall in love with that baby
face!"

Rupert was himself still too young to appreciate
the rounded cheek, the Ml lip, the eye of which
the white is almost blue — the innumerable charms
of extreme youth : Melanie's tall full figure, bril-
liant eyes, and marked regular features, were to
him more interesting ; and he would perhaps have
approached her if he had not suspected, from the
wondering faces of those around her, that she was
talking either of animal magnetism or ghosts, two
subjects which he particularly disliked. Again he
looked at Cyrilla, but she had turned away her head ;
and after a moment's indecision, he walked slowly,
almost cautiously, away, as if he feared his cousin
might see him and claim his attention. " For, of
course," he thought, u she has got all possible in-

118 CYRILLA.

structions from her mother and aunt how to catch
and hold me fast."

u You don't mean to leave so early, Adlerkron,"
cried Captain Stauffen, one of the officers of his
regiment; u surely you will wait to hear your cousin
sing : if she can do so half as well as she can talk,
it is well worth your while."

u Show yourself, at least," said Lieutenant
Klemmhain, taking him by the arm; " become
visible to the Polinskys, if only for a moment, as
I heard the Countess Falkenstein say that her
sister must not sing until you had made your
appearance."

tl Indeed! Then," said Eupert, with a look of
intense annoyance, " you may go to her now, and
tell her that I have just recollected a most impor-
tant engagement, which unfortunately will prevent
me from hearing my cousin sing just now, but that
in a few weeks I hope to see them both at Exfort."

Rupert stood in the street — his carriage was
gone, and the cold half- thawed snow penetrated the
soles and sides of his thin boots : he stopped and
deliberated whether or not he should return; " No,
he would not. After all, Melanie did know, or at
least suspect the plot against him ; it showed great
want of tact her saying that Cyrilla must wait
until he came — his aunts would find her but a
bungling matchmaker — and as to Cyrilla, the sooner

CYRILLA. 119

her hopes were crashed the better; it was his duty
to be decided on this occasion."

And he strode down the street, splashing through
the wet snow, alike unheedful of it or of the " still
small voice " that whispered he was not acting
with his usual kindness or consideration for the
feelings of others.

120 CYRILLA.

CHAPTER VIII.

Exfort is one of those ancient towns so numerous
in Germany, which, from having occupied a distin-
guished place in the early history of the country,
and been deemed worthy of fortification in the
middle ages, has had to endure all the vicissitudes
of the endless wars of those times. Besieged,
pillaged, burnt, it had ever risen, phoenix-likl out
of its ashes; and even the last conflagration, and
having been twice sacked by the French at a later
period, had failed to deprive it of the appearance of
a large, populous, and thriving town, though the
distance from the coast, and want of a navigable
river or extensive commerce, would cause many an
Englishman to doubt the fact. The town had, at
the conclusion of the last war, been greatly enliven-
ed, in the opinion of its inhabitants, by the old
residences of various historically celebrated Mar-
grafs and Gau-grafs having been converted into
barracks for a numerous and ovial garrison, and

CYKILLA. 121

also considerably elevated in rank, when it became
the seat of a provincial government, with its
respectable representatives of civil power, in the
persons of assessors, councillors of different classes,
&c, &c, &c, and a President!

The President, Count Falkenstein, resided in the
government house, which was the largest and
handsomest in the town, occupying the whole side
of a square called the Platz, and, though the lower
part of the building was altogether appropriated to
the different offices of the persons employed under
him, the second story, with its long suite of recep-
tion rooms, had been reserved altogether for his
use, or rather for his wife's, who there, on stated
evenings, received, sometimes a select, sometimes a
promiscuous society.

PHced by station and fortune in the first rank,
Meluuie affected to laugh at and despise all social
distinctions : she said, and tried to believe, that
talent and education alone could raise man above
his fellows; but she never was known to transgress
any of the self-imposed laws which distinguished
her class. She spoke French, or demi-French,
almost invariably when in company, tutoied and
called familiarly by their Christian names every
member of her own coterie, while she was unneces-
sarily and ostentatiously polite to the less fashion-
favoured members of her little world. She aspired

VOL. I. G

122 CYRILLA.

in a lady-like sort of way to literary celebrity, and
on first coming to Exfort had entertained the idea
of combining learning and fashion, and altogether
changing the tastes and pursuits of the greater
number of her acquaintances. Some years had
elapsed since the time of the " three experiments,"
as she herself laughingly called the three soirees in
which she had hoped to commence a new era in
the Exfort world. To this end, she had signified
her intention of giving reading parties, and had
induced men of learning and talent to write and
read aloud essays on subjects which she judged
most appropriate, and likely to arouse the curiosity
or engage the attention of her expected audience.
The first night her rooms were crowded to suffoca-
tion, but the company were manifestly soon weary,
and openly showed that they preferred whispering
to each other. Some ridiculed what they had heard,
others were honest enough to confess that they had
not understood what it was all about; but a still
greater number declared that it was intolerably dull
work, and if they had not been ashamed, they would
have gone home at the end of the first half horn'; and
this sort of shame induced many to appear at the
second soire*e, but the third was literally without
guests. Melanie's hopes of being the leader of an
intellectual society evaporated, and she hencefor-
ward followed the example of others, giving two or

CYEILLA. 123

three large balls during the winter, and receiving
those who had general invitations to her house
twice-a-week in spring and autumn.

At the end of the long suite of reception-rooms
wka one chosen for constant habitation, because it
adjoined the private office of Count Falkenstein.
He reserved for himself the privilege of locking the
double doors between them when he did not choose
to be interrupted in writing, or of opening them
when he either wished for society or desired to
lengthen his space for walking. The day after
Cyrilla's arrival, as she was sitting in this room
with her sister, waiting for the announcement of
dinner, she heard the President speaking with un-
usual animation to some one who had entered just
as the doors of communication had been opened.
Melanie instantly rose and joined them, and Cyrilla
soon after distinguished the low tones of an un-
known voice inquiring for her cousin Rupert, and
asking if he did not mean to come soon to Exfort
about the purchase of Freilands.

" I really do not know what his intentions are,"
replied Melanie in rather an offended tone ; " his
conduct was altogether so odd, so inexplicable,
that even if I had had an opportunity of asking
him, I do not think I should have done so."

" I heard you talking to him for a good half-
hour," said the President ; " but," he added ironi-

124 CYRILLA.

cally, " I suppose he forgot to ask about the new
work which is now in manuscript."

" It was not to me he was so — so uncivil, I may
say ; it was his neglect of Cyrilla that annoyed me.
He saw her for five minutes before she went out
the last evening we were in Berlin, — promised to
follow us to the Polinskys, but when 'there, never
even took the trouble of entering the room we were
in ; and ended by sending a young officer of his
regiment to tell me that he had some engagement
which would prevent him from hearing her sing !
I naturally thought he would have excused himself
the next morning before we left, but he never ap-
peared."

" We left very early," suggested the President.
" That," said the unknown voice, " is no excuse
for Adlerkron. You know he is one of those men
who do not know how to enjoy either their position
in the world or their wealth ; he is, and always
was, an earlier riser than most of those unfortunate
beings who, like me, are doomed to earn their
daily bread."

u I think, Edouard," said the President, " that
in his place you would have been equally ener-
getic. I am convinced that, under any circum-
stances, you would be an ambitious and studious
man."

"Studious! yes — perhaps — but with Adler-

CYRILLA. 12-5

kron's fortune I should certainly lead a very differ-
ent life from his."

" As to his life," said Melanie, " it is, I am
told, blameless ; and though I feel a little angry
with him just now on account of Cyrilla, I must
say I have seldom met a more generous or good-
natured being."

u 0, only too good-natured," said the same
voice. u If I were in his place, the officers of my
regiment should not ride my horses without asking
my leave ; nor should they have free quarters at
Windhorst. I consider that sort of good-nature
weakness."

" He is extremely popular," began Melanie.
u He is considered a good-natured fellow, and
perhaps that is the height of his ambition, but it is
not mine."

" And what is your ambition?" asked Melanie.
•• Nothing less than to be finance minister some
twenty years hence ! "

* You are right, Edouard," cried the President ;
" if circumstances favour your views, I know no
one whose talents would more fit them for the
office."

" In the meantime," said Melanie, walking into
the drawing-room, " let me introduce you to my
sister. Cyrilla, this is our nephew, Count Zorn-
dorff."

126 CYRILLA.

He was a young and uncommonly handsome
man ; the extreme paleness of his features ren-
dered still more remarkable by his jet black hair
and large dark eyes ; his manners were quiet, his
voice low, and peculiarly agreeable. Though per-
fectly well dressed, there was an evident careless-
ness in the minutiae of his toilet which most people
thought and said proceeded from the consciousness
that his personal advantages permitted negligence.
Those who so judged were in error. Few, none
perhaps, understood his character at all, for few or
none ever study the characters of those with whom
they are not obliged to live ; and many, very
many, pass through this world without ever having
studied any character at all, merely taking people
as they find them, and feeling a sort of vague sur-
prise when others act differently from what they
would have done in their places. These are like
children turning over the leaves of a book of
prints, under which the explanations are written
in a language unknown to them. The representa-
tions of scenes of domestic life they can understand,
though even there much is passed over unnoticed ;
but should the picture present anything new or
uncommon, after having looked at it for a short
time with a mixture of curiosity and wonder, they
turn over the leaf, unconscious of the fund of deep
interest, or subject of profound thought, which they

CYRILLA. 127

have lost. The study of character may be com-
pared to the acquirement of a new science or lan-
guage ; the more cultivated the mind, the less felt
are the first difficulties ; and these once overcome,
a world of hitherto unknown ideas come crowding
on us, or intellectual treasures are within our
reach which may afford us occupation and enjoy-
ment for the rest of our lives. This digression is
not intended as a prelude to a dissection of Count
Zorndorff's head or heart : like Cyrilla, we will see
him as he chose to appear to her, and that was,
cold and indifferent. He talked politics without
intermission during dinner, retired afterwards with
the President to his study ; and when he again ap-
peared in the drawing-room, he addressed all his
conversation in a half-whisper to Melanie.

The President requested Cyrilla to sing ; and
while he leaned back in his chair, an expression of
perfect satisfaction stealing over his stern features,
Count Zorndorff ceased speaking, but, bending
over a book, appeared altogether unconscious of all
that was going on about him. As the clock struck
ten, he rose, nodded a good-night to his uncle,
murmured a few words to his aunt, and, slightly
bowing to Cyrilla, left the room.

" Well," cried Melanie, turning with a look of
half-suppressed triumph to her sister : u well, Cy-
rilla, what do you think of him ?"

128 CYRILLA.

"You mean Count ZorndorfT? I hardly know
— I spoke so little to him — he seems gentleman-
like."

u My dear creature, are you blind ? He is prob-
ably the handsomest man you ever saw in your
lifeV'

" Very likely ; but I did not observe him atten-
tively."

The President looked up and smiled. " Ed-
ouard has for once made no impression," he said
quietly ; "Cyrilla is too rational to waste admira-
tion on a head, without knowing what sort of brain
may be in it. I believe it is Plato who says
' mind alone is beautiful.' "

" He meant, that the appreciation of beauty
depends upon the mind," said Melanie ; " and the
more intellect we have the stronger our ima-
gination may be so much the more intense is

the perception of the beautiful ! I must say, Cyrilla,
I never saw any one so devoid of feeling for beauty
as you are !"

" I think on the present occasion it is a most
fortunate circumstance," said Count Falkenstein."

" I cannot agree with you, Wilhelm ; it is a loss
of incalculable pleasure a person not having a per-
ception of what is beautiful, be the object picture,
statue, man, or woman."

" Hum ," said Count Falkenstein, rubbing

CYIilLLA. 129

his chin. " The perception of a woman's beauty
is sometimes necessary to make a man overlook her
foibles."

Melanie moved in silent dignity towards a marble
table, on which three small antique silver candle-
sticks were placed, and began to occupy herself in
lighting the candles they held.

tt I think/' said Cyrilla, apologetically, " indeed
I am almost sure I should have observed Count
Zorndorff more had he spoken to me, or had he
appeared to like music."

" Edouard loses c incalculable pleasure ' by
having no ear for music," said Count Falkenstein.

" He has no dislike to vocal music," cried Me-
lanie, eagerly ; "no dislike whatever when he can
hear the words distinctly."

" That is," said the Count, " he has no objection
to receiving a poetical idea even through the me-
dium of song !"

" I think, Wilhelm, it is extremely injudicious
your endeavouring to prejudice Cyrilla against a
person with whom she must associate so con-
stantly."

" And I think, Melanie, it is still more injudi-
cious your endeavouring to prepossess her in favour

of a person who is is a is decidedly the

worst parti in Exfort."

Cyrilla laughed. " To relieve both your minds,"

G 2

130 crraLLA.

she said, " let me assure you that I am neither
prejudiced nor prepossessed, nor," she added with
a slight blush, " nor have I come to Exfort to look
for & parti."

u Well," said the President, " all I have to say
is, that I hope you have made as little impression
on my nephew as he seems to have made on you.
It is a fortunate circumstance for him that his heart
is not as vulnerable through his ears as mine."

" You need have no apprehensions on Edouard's
account," observed Melanie, " for,, however Cyrilla's
appearance might attract him, she is not in other
respects at all suited to him. 1 have seldom seen
two people so different in disposition."

" So much the better," rejoined Count Falken-
stein, " so much the better ; but you see sometimes
people like those who are precisely the contrary of
what they are themselves — I give myself as an
example. Can any two people in the world be
more unlike than we are ?"

" I flatter myself that it is not possible," answered
Melanie as she left the room.

Cyrilla stopped at her sister's door for a moment
and said, " I should like to know why you never
mentioned Count Zorndorff's name to me. I had
no idea that you had a nephew here."

" He has not been long in Exfort," answered
Melanie evasively, u only since he became Kamnwr

CYRILLA. 131

Assessor. Our other nephews, the Falkensteins,
are not to be compared to him ; but they will never-
theless inherit all we possess, while poor Edouard
must work his way on in the world as he best can.
It is this which makes him so melancholy — so
discontented — at times almost a misanthrope."

" But," said Cyrilla, " how many men in this
world are similarly situated, without being either
melancholy or misanthropical !"

" Very likely ; but not such men as Edouard.
I never see him and Rupert together, without
wishing they could change places : Rupert's simple
habits and thoughtless hilarity are perfectly adapted
to a life of the commonest description ; whereas
Edouard' s refinement, almost amounting to morbid
sensibility, will make him, if chance or interest do
not favour his ambition, the most wretched of
men!"

" Good-night," said Cyrilla, turning away ; u you
have quite convinced me that he is not at all likely
to suit me, even as an acquaintance and I sup-
pose he is here every day ? "

"Hew here every day, and you will be so una-
voidably thrown together, that I wrote to him

about you from Berlin I will be candid with

you, dear Cyrilla, and tell you that your appear-
ance is so ideal, so essentially poetical and refined,
that I trembled for his peace of mind, and "

132 CYRILLA.

u And," said Cyrilla, interrupting her, " and
recommended him to be almost uncivil to me ?
He ought to be very much obliged to you for your
care of his happiness. May I ask why you did not
think it necessary to warn me too ?"

" Your education," answered Melanie, " must
have been very different from what I supposed, if
you could waste a serious thought on any one in
his circumstances. I am sure you have received
ample instruction on this subject."

a Perhaps so," replied Cyrilla ; u but there are
some things I have not been able to learn, and this
happens to be one of them. Mamma and Fernanda
used to discuss such matters occasionally before
me, and talked very rationally and wisely no

doubt but I — would rather like to believe that

there is such a thing as love in this world."

" There is — there is !" cried Melanie enthusias-
tically. " There is, and no wealth or station can
supply its place. Oh, Cyrilla, if you would not
lead a life of endless regrets, never let any thing
tempt you to many a man without feeling, and
being assured that he also feels for you that de-
scription of love which alone is genuine, — a love
inspired by congeniality of mind ! Love deserves
not the name if it be not based on sentiment, and
elevated by a mysterious combination of spirits !
Good-night, dearest," she added hastily retreating

CYRILLA. 133

into her room ; " I hear Wilhelm already in his
dressing-room. To-morrow we will discuss this
important question more at length."

" Melanie is very — very sentimental," thought
Cyrilla, as she walked towards her room, " but she
is very charming also. Poor thing ! I know she
was persuaded to marry the President without car-
ing for him, and I now begin to suspect she liked
some one else better. I wish I could see the letter
she wrote to that Count Zomdorff; it must have
made a great impression on him, for, after the first
rather disagreeable steady stare, he never again
looked at me the whole evening."

134 CYRILLA.

CHAPTER IX.

Days and weeks passed — Cyrilla's friends and ac-
quaintances multiplied with that facility so com-
mon to youth — so impossible in later years. In
many houses, where she found companions of her
•own age, she became intimate, and was not a little
annoyed occasionally at the number of questions
which were asked her about her cousin Rupert —
If he did not intend to purchase Freilands ? — Had
he not said he would retire from the army and set-
tle near Exfort? — Whom did she suppose he was
likely to marry ? — Did she not think him quite a
love ? — Had she ever heard any amateur sing so
well as he did? &c, &c, &c. And not one of these
questions, simple as they were, could she answer,
though they concerned one of her nearest relations.
Rupert's neglect was thus made so very apparent,
that she first felt piqued, then almost angry, when-

CYRILLA. 135

ever he was named. Some of her other friends
were not less curious concerning the intentions and
movements of Count Zorndorff, who they knew al-
most lived in his uncle's house ; and it was in vain
that Cyrilla assured them that she was scarcely
acquainted with and never spoke to him; they
were incredulous, and well they might be, for on
the evenings that the Countess Falkenstein was
" at home," they had observed that he followed her
from room to room, stood near her, listened to
what she said, occasionally joined in the conversa-
tion, and all with that appearance of careless inti-
macy which men, who have lived in the world,
know so well how to assume towards very young
women ; but none could know, nor could Cyrilla ex-
plain, that when they met the next day at dinner a'
relapse had taken place, and he was again frigid or
indifferent to her, and exclusively occupied with
his uncle and aunt.

One afternoon, as he sat in the drawing-room
with his arms crossed, apparently in deepest re-
verie, Melanie approached Cyrilla, who was paint-
ing in water-colours, and pointing to Zorndorff,
asked her to make a sketch of him. " It will not
be difficult," she added, " as he is so quiet — he has
not moved for the last ten minutes."

" Oh, nothing can be easier," said Cyrilla gaily ;
" he is quite a man of marble — unmoved — immov-

136 CYEILLA.

able. I can sketch his face without looking at
him — Look here — so ?"

Melanie bent over her, exclaiming, u Excellent !
nothing could be more like ! What an extraordi-
nary talent for taking likenesses you must have ! "

" I believe," said Cyrilla, as she carelessly gave
the outline of the figure, u I believe this is rather
an exercise of memory — Shall I colour the head a
little?"

" Oh pray do."

In the meantime the man of marble was sitting
upright, his pale cheek slightly flushed, his dark
eyes flashing, and an expression of surprise and
pleasure pervading every feature of his face.

u I think," suggested Melanie, " you might give
a little more colour."

" Not a bit," said Cyrilla decidedly.

"I liked your sketch better," continued Me-
lanie ; " the outline was perfect."

" It is there still," rejoined Cyrilla ; " this slight
washing in of colour cannot have changed it."

u It is there and not there," said Melanie ; u you
have given a cold, haughty, discontented expres-
sion to the head now."

u Tis memory's sketch," said Cyrilla, throwing
down her pencil ; " and it is so," she added, slightly
shrugging her shoulders, " that Count ZorndorfFs
head appears to me — almost — always."

CYRILLA. 137

Melanie walked with the drawing in her hand
into the next room to show it to the President.
Count Zorndorff rose, approached Cyrilla, sat down
in a chair beside her, and having watched her for a
few minutes, as she replaced her colours and depo-
sited her pallets in the box, he observed, in his
usual low well modulated voice, " I am sorry my
head has made so disagreeable an impression on
you, Mademoiselle d'Adlerkron; will you allow
me to accuse you of some injustice in your judg-
ment of me ?"

" Of your head — not of you."

u My head ! why that's myself — my all — all I
have in the world ! My head, with some mechani-
cal assistance on the part of my hands, must earn
my bread, give me clothes — a roof to cover me, and
perhaps some of those luxuries which civilisation
has rendered almost necessary to life!"

•• We spoke merely of the expression of your
features," observed Cyrilla.

" You said I appeared to you cold and haughty,"
continued Zorndorff; " I am neither the one nor
the other."

"Very likely," said Cyrilla, playing with her
pencil, rt it may be the regularity of your features
which gives them an expression of severity."

"I am not severe, not haughty, and but too
surely not cold." Had Cyrilla looked at him, she

138 CYRILLA.

would have believed the latter assertion at least ;
she did not, and he continued : u Cold ! As cold
as Hecla under its crust of ice ! To the charge
of discontent I plead guilty."

" Mclanie calls it melancholy, and the word
sounds better/' observed Cyrilla, smiling.

" Let us call it by the right name — discontent.
I am altogether dissatisfied with myself, my lot in
life — in short, with the whole world."

"And I find such discontent so unreasonable,
that, instead of commiserating, I feel inclined to
laugh at you ; and would do so if I knew you well
enough," said Cyrilia, moving back her chair.

" Stay, Mademoiselle d'Adlerkron, one moment

You said, or implied that I or, if you

will my head, was not always disagreeable to
you."

"Did I? I suppose I meant, that in society
you looked more amiable than you do for us every
day here."

" You could scarcely make a remark calculated
to place me in a more disadvantageous light ; and
it is not altogether without foundation, nor with-
out cause. With you the case is exactly the con-
trary ; you are a thousand times more charming, a
thousand times more fascinating, when we are quite
alone than when you are seen in a crowd.

u Your words admit of a double sense," said

CYKILLA. 139

Cyrilla, laughing ; " you may mean tliat I am a
cheerful sort of person, with whom it is pleasant to
pass a few hours every day, or "

u Pleasant ! Oh, something more than pleasant."

" Or you may mean that I am too insignificant
to be observed among others."

" You are lost, or rather thrown away, like an
exotic flower in a gardener's table-bouquet," said
ZorndorfY, with increasing animation. u One never
can admire a flower as it deserves, until it is seen
alone. A rosebud for instance is, with all its in-
trinsic beauty, a flower but little observed when,
with jessamines, jonquils, geraniums, and dozens
of others, it composes a part of those pyramidical

bouquets which gardeners love to form I never

see one of them without thinking of a ball-room —
I am never in a ball-room without thinking of a
bouquet."

" A very nice idea," said Cyrilla, leaning back
in her chair, half amused, half indifferent.

" In looking at a bouquet of this description,"
continued Zorndorff, u one seldom singles out a
flower for particular admiration." He paused a
moment, and then added, " Let me, however, take
one — a rosebud, a lily, or what you will, and let
me place it in a glass of water ; give me time to
examine and admire it at leisure, and I shall soon
think it most beautiful — most perfect — and wonder

140 CYRILLA.

that, even among the others, I had not instantly
sought one like it."

ff You are right," said Cyrilla ; " all plants are
beautiful when carefully examined ; and," she said,
bending over the paper before her, and almost un-
consciously beginning to sketch rosebuds and lilies,
" and really the whole idea is so poetical, that you
might put it into verse."

"Are you laughing at me?" he asked, calmly.

u No, I was only thinking of what Melanie told
me a few days ago."

" What did she tell you?"

u That you had written some delightfully wild,
despairing poems, and published them under a
feigned name."

"A youthful folly that I hoped had been for-
gotten," said ZorndorfT, smiling.

u She said also," continued Cyrilla, archly,
" that you could talk poetical prose sometimes."

" That was not my intention just now," said
ZorndorrT, rising ; " but if you cannot, or will not,
understand my allegory, let me tell you, in plain
words, that however safe I may imagine myself
when I see you surrounded by others, you might
become dangerous to my peace of mind were I to
yield to the inclination I constantly feel of convers-
ing unrestrainedly with you."

Cyrilla looked at him for a moment in astonish-

CYRILLA. 141

ment. Some confused thoughts of an ice-covered
volcano, bouquets, ball-rooms, and buds of roses,
passed through her mind — then came the tolerably
clear idea that Count Zorndorif, the cold impene-
trable man of marble, had not been, or was not so
insensible, as she had supposed. A feeling of gra-
tified vanity was succeeded by a smile of unequi-
vocal pleasure, that changed into a merry laugh,
in which she was joined by ZomdorfY, even while
he said, " I wish you would always laugh, and
then I should have nothing to fear."

" You would have nothing to fear ! " repeated
Melanie, joining them. " What on earth are you
talking about?"

" I have been endeavouring to explain to your
sister my motives for avoiding her society, and
wish I could make her understand that I am not
always the dull disagreeable fellow I have been for
the last six weeks."

u Dull and disagreeable ! I am sure Cyrilla
never thought "

u Excuse me, Melanie. I certainly did at least
think your praises of Count ZorndorfT a little ex-
aggerated— that he was not dull, I could discover
by his conversation with others ; but, as far as I
am concerned, I must say he is the only man I

ever found actually ungracious to me, and and

rather disagreeable than otherwise."

142 CYRILLA.

" That was more than I intended," cried Zorn-
dorfT, with unusual warmth; "but a medium in
such cases is not possible, and henceforth I will be
— myself — such as I am."

" Edouard, dear Edouard," cried Melanie, with
a look of alarm, " have you forgotten all I said to

you?"

" No ; I remember it perfectly, and some other
things too ; but it is absurd avoiding present pleas-
ure from a vague fear that it may increase future
misery. Mademoiselle d'Adlerkron shall never
again have cause to complain of my ungracious-
ness."

The announcement of dinner ended the conver-
sation, but Cyrilla's interest was excited, and the
more so, as her sister's countenance assumed an
unusual gravity. Zorndorff did not that day, or
ever after, follow his uncle into his study, but join-
ing Melanie and Cyrilla after dinner, read or talked
to them the whole, evening.

CYRILLA. 14:3

CHAPTER X.

Zorxdoeff's explanation made a deep and lasting
impression on Cvrilla, nor was his manner after-
wards calculated to weaken it. If lie did not posi-
tively seek her society, he at least never seemed to
avoid it ; and, when they were together, he talked
naturally, and apparently without reserve, on every
subject, allowing himself to be laughed at for his
fastidious tastes, and listening gravely to her lec-
tures on the influences of inordinate ambition.
Too proud to be vain, he was evidently perfectly
indifferent to his very uncommon personal advan-
tages, and in proportion as Cyrilla observed this,
she became aware of them, acquiring by degrees a
sense of the "beautiful" which might e\en have
satisfied her sister, had she thought proper again
to question her. Day by day Zorndorff rose in her
estimation — how could it be otherwise ? The Pre-

144 CYRILLA.

sident consulted him on important business. Me-
lanie's encomiums were unceasing, and they no
longer appeared exaggerated to Cyrilla. In the
society of Exfort, he was, by common consent, the
leader of fashion, without having given himself the
slightest trouble to obtain that eminence; and Cy-
rilla could not long remain unconscious that, even
against his will, she had begun to " endanger his
peace of mind." She pardoned, as every woman
in her place would have done, the occasional
glances that betrayed this secret — forgave him
sooner than he did himself, and felt a degree of
compassion for his magnanimous struggles that
almost verged on tenderness. It was these same
efforts on his part to overcome and conceal his
growing admiration and regard that gave peculiar
interest to their intercourse. She began to under-
stand why he was discontented, and even to enter-
tain vague wishes that she had been born an
heiress; but it was not until he had been absent for
some days in Berlin, that she discovered how ex-
tremely insipid all other men were — how very
necessary his society must be to his aunt and
uncle ! Perhaps she was glad when he returned
to Exfort. She gave him her hand for a moment,
but it was singular that, as Melanie warmly wel-
comed him, and added the assurance that they
had found it almost impossible to live without

CYP.ILLA. 145

him, Cyrilla said not one word, but, bending over
her work, slightly averted her face, which had
suddenly become flushed in a very unusual man-
ner. Zomdorff was not at all hurt at her silence.
On the contrary, a look of surprise was quickly
followed by a smile of satisfaction, and a visible
exhilaration of spirits, that lasted for some time.

u I saw your cousin Rupert very often," he ob-
served, after a pause.

" Did you?" said Cyrilla, carelessly.

Zomdorff laughed. " I expected," he continued,
" to have been stormed with questions about the
movements of so very important a person."

* Important ! " repeated Cyrilla ; " I really was
not aware of his importance."

" Why, is he not the head and hope of your
family? " he asked ironically.

" That may give him importance in the eyes of
my aunt in Salzburg ; but, for my part "

" For your part," said Melanie, " I can easily
imagine that a little common civility, a very slight
show of regard when you were in Berlin, would
have raised him in your opinion far more than all
his possessions. I hope, Edouard, you gave him
no information whatever about Cyrilla."

" He did not ask for any."

" You don't mean to say that he did not speak of
us at all ? "

VOL. I. h

146 CYRILLA.

" Not exactly ; he hoped you were all well, or
something to that purport. You know, of course,
that he has purchased Freilands, and intends to fur-
nish the house magnificently."

" I am in total ignorance of everything concern-
ing him."

" He will be here to-morrow to give you any in-
formation you may desire."

" To-morrow ! " repeated Melanie ; then, turning
to her sister, she added, " Cyrilla, you will really
do me a favour by endeavouring to be out of the
way when he arrives — by avoiding him for a day
or two."

" I don't think he will observe whether I am
here or not," said Cyrilla, half-laughing.

" But, Edouard, don't you think we ought to
punish him in some way for his neglect?" asked
Melanie.

" Yes ; but, if I may offer an opinion, I should
say that a quiet system of indifference during his
stay here would be better than avoiding him in any
manner that would lead to explanations."

" It is not easy to be indifferent with him — he is
too good-natured ; and then, you know, he cannot
endure the idea of having offended any one, and
will be sure to explain or apologize in some queer
way, or make us forget what he has done by doing
something else."

CYRILLA. 147

" Let us tell him at once how good-for-nothing
we think him — how offended we are/' suggested
Cyrilla.

" He will misunderstand you," said Zorndorff,
u and be persuaded you are making advances to
him ; indeed, if you do not carefully weigh all
your actions and words, he will in all probability
think you have serious intentions on his heart and
hand."

" That is true," said Cyrilla ; " I had forgotten
that weakness of his."

" That folly ! " said Zorndorff, with a slight
sneer.

The President, who had entered the room while
they were speaking, observed, u If you knew as
much of Rupert as I do, you would excuse him for
entertaining some fears of people having designs
upon him : he has had a good deal of expe-
rience in that way. Edouard might have been
able to give you information enough on the subject,
if he had not just about that time been too much
occupied with his own affairs — eh, Edouard?"

Zorndorff bit his lip, and murmured something
about the love affairs of students being seldom of
much importance.

" You must not say that, Edouard ; we may
hope there are exceptions, and that "

" Excuse me for interrupting you," said Zorn-

148 CYRILLA.

dorff, rising hastily ; u but you have just reminded
me that I have a long message for you from old
Sommerfeld about the last loan in which he was
concerned/ '

" A very natural transition," said Count Falken-
stein ; {- but first tell me how the old man has
borne his son's death."

" He is resigned, but looks ill, and remains for
hours without speaking. His daughter is very un-
easy about him."

" Sorry to hear it : her brother's death must
have been a great shock to her in her delicate state
of health."

" We — I mean she — has been expecting it nearly
two years," said ZorndorfY; " it was at last quite
a release."

" But she seemed to me a person of such remark-
ably strong feelings "

" Oh yes, horribly strong feelings," said Zorn-
dorff, shrugging his shoulders.

" Her fortune will now be immense," observed
the President.

" It will," said ZorndorfT; " but she cannot pur-
chase health with it."

" I remember hearing something of these Som-
merfelds," said Melanie : " bankers — enormously
rich ; but I never met them anywhere, did I? "

" Perhaps not ; but their wealth makes them re-

CYR1LLA. 149

markable enough, and it is now all centred in one
woman/' answered the President.

" I pity her," said Melanie ; " any woman with
a fortune sufficiently large to tempt adventurers is
to be pitied : better to be penniless and have the
certainty of being chosen for oneself alone !

" And what is the use of being chosen if choice
is out of our power?" asked Cyrilla, quietly.
" I should not hesitate to take the fortune and my
chance for happiness, if it were offered me. The
relations of penniless women," she added, laughing,
a are generally so unreasonable as to expect them to
be satisfied with a house and home, and to take
thankfully whatever they may find in it."

" The relations of men in the same predica-
ment," said Zorndorff, " have not unfrequently the
same idea."

" A man marrying from motives of interest is
unpardonable," began Cyrilla.

" Not more so than a woman's doing so," cried
Zorndorff, walking across the room to where she
was sitting ; " and moreover, he risks his happiness
less than a woman in a similar case."

u He deserves to lose it altogether," rejoined
Cyrilla j " for a man by application and industry can
provide for himself and secure an independence ;
but what can we do ?

u I am afraid there is little doubt as to what

150 CYRILLA.

Mademoiselle d'Adlerkron will do," muttered Zorn-
dorff, turning to his uncle with a forced smile.

" Let us hope/' said the President gravely,
" that in her case prudence and inclination may
point to the same person."

The next day Eupert arrived. At Melanie's
request, as he walked in at one door, Cyrilla dis-
appeared through another. His visit was short
and hurried ; he promised to come again the next
day, and — did not inquire for Cyrilla. Melanie's
indignation was unbounded, Cyrilla blushed, Zorn-
dorfT laughed, the President asked what was the
matter, but no one chose to explain. u It was not
worth his notice — mere nonsense." Count Falken-
stein did not like nonsense, and asked no further ques-
tion. So profound was the respect entertained for
him by all his household, that they never ventured
to make him acquainted with any of those little
domestic events and jests that, after all, make the
sum of private life. Yet he was not an ill-tempered
man or a tyrant, but so unbendingly master, that
he was approached with reverence, spoken to with
reserve, and — avoided as much as possible.

The day following, Cyrilla purposely and will-
ingly went out, and Melanie received her cousin
Rupert with a reserved dignity, which, however, was
altogether unperceived by him. Provokingly uncon-
scious of his disgrace, he walked about the room,

CYRILLA. 151

examining the books and turning over the music,
until he seated himself at Cyrilla's drawing- table,
and, in the contemplation of her sketches, remained
for some time quite quiet.

" How well she draws ! " he observed abruptly.

u Meaning Cyrilla?" asked Melanie.

" Exactly — where is she ? "

" Gone out."

" When is she likely to return'? "

" I don't know."

" Don't you ? -that's odd. Did you not tell her
that I intended to come here to-day? "

" Of course ; but — she had an engagement "

u Really ! not very important, most probably ! "

u Why — no — it is precisely of the same descrip-
tion as yours the evening you had not time to
speak to her in Berlin."

" Ah, she is offended with me!"

" iSTot as much as I should have been in her
place, but quite enough to prevent her from feeling
any empressement to see you."

" Oh, I don't want or wish for anything of that
kind," said Rupert ; " quite the contrary ; but still,
Melanie, I believe I had better dine with you
to-day, and work out a reconciliation with her, or
else she may refuse to go to Freilands."

" She has been there already : we got up a pic-
nic on purpose to show it to her."

152 CYRILLA.

a I don't mean pic-nics," said Rupert : u I expect
jou all to come and stay with me, — the President
can drive into Exfort every morning and return to
dinner."

u But," said Melanie with a smile, " the furni-
ture is a — of rather — too pastoral a description to
admit of your receiving company. .There are, I
allow, garden chairs and deal tables in profusion,
but "

Rupert laughed. " Do not be alarmed, my dear
Melanie ; I know that, much as you like reading
and writing pastorals, there is nothing you dread
so much in reality, and you are the very last per-
son in the world I should think of inviting to
garden chairs and deal tables ! My furniture has
long been ordered, and about a dozen rooms are
already in a very habitable state — it was about
yours that I was in such a hurry yesterday. You
once said that you liked rose-coloured furniture,
because it was becoming to people with dark hair,
or something of that sort ; and so "

" How is it possible that you can remember
what I most probably said years ago?" asked Me-
lanie with some surprise : "it must have been
about the time that my boudoir was being newly
furnished!"

" Precisely, — but I should perhaps have for-
gotten your remark if I had not afterwards seen

CYRILLA. 153

you in the boudoir, and found that in rose-coloured
light you were perfectly irresistible. There you
sat as usual composing verses ; but, even while
scanning the lines, you arranged a casket of jewels,
which gave your appearance such a charming mix-
ture of Occident and orient that added to your
black hair, for which I have always had a sort of
passion : I — at once, and without hesitation, fell
desperately in love with you.

" Nonsense, Kupert !"

" Fact, I assure you. If my poor uncle were
alive he could bear witness, for to him I told my
love!"

" Well," said Melanie laughing, " and what did
he say?"

* He said it was the best thing that could have
happened to me,— that a sentimental fancy for a
woman of talent and fashion, such as you were,
would be of the greatest advantage to me, and form
my manners better than anything else in the
world ; so you see you have unconsciously assisted
in my education."

" If that be the case," said Melanie, " I must
say you have shown your gratitude for my services
in rather an extraordinary way. No one, not even
Wilhelm, has ever so openly turned me into ridi-
cule as you have!"

" That," said Rupert, " is the most curious

h2

154 CYRILLA.

thing of all ; when actually in the act of laughing
at you, I admired you, and would not for any con-
sideration have had you other than you were!"

" Allow me to doubt the existence of your ad-
miration, Rupert."

" No, I won't, — when you believe so many other
queer things, you must believe that too. I assure
you, just before you left Berlin and came to settle
here, I had begun to think it quite possible that be-
tween us (notwithstanding our difference of disposi-
tion) a mysterious sympathy of souls "

" Spirits, not souls," said Melanie, gravely in-
terrupting him.

" You used to say souls."

" I don't think I did ; but at all events Edouard
has convinced me of the disadvantages of an in-
correct use of the expressions, body, soul, and
spirit : the body is what we have in common with
plants and the lowest order of animals, — the soul
is neither more nor less than the invisible being or
life of the body : by so speaking, we give ourselves
merely the highest rank among animals."

Rupert looked attentive, and she continued :
" Now, though some animals in the creation bear a
strong resemblance, both in form and organization,
to man, there is, in fact, an impassable gulf be-
tween them. It is the intellect or spirit that gives
us a place quite alone in the creation."

CYRILLA. 155

" O ho ! " cried Kupert ; u this sounds better
than the ghosts and goblins about which you used
to talk so much last year, after having read Jus-
tinus Kerner's Somnambulist of Prevorst. I sup-
pose ZorndorfF got tired of pretending to believe
such a heap of marvellous imaginings, and has
endeavoured to turn your mind to something else."

11 You are quite mistaken, Rupert ; however, all
I want to explain to you is, that to prevent a con-
fusion of ideas, one should in speaking, instead of
body, use the word soul, which expresses its life
and being, and for what is commonly called the
immortal soul — the word spirit."

" Soul and spirit," repeated Rupert, " and no
body at all ! But, if I am not mistaken, Kerner's
Somnambulist also says, that in death the spirit
will be separated from the soul as well as from the
brain and heart."

u It will," cried Melanie eagerly; "and if you
once agree to the correctness of the terms soul and
spirit, all confusion ceases, — all unnecessary won-
der about the union of such different things as
spirit and body ceases : we have only to take the
soul as connecting link, if you have no objec-
tion "

" None whatever," said Rupert, closing Cyrilla's
portfolio and coming towards her.

" Then, Rupert, you see, between spirit and

156 CYEILLA.

soul there is sufficient resemblance to admit of
amalgamation ; for while spirit is immaterial, quite
distinct from matter, the soul, as vital or directive
principle of the body, is not without a certain con-
sciousness of being, although it cannot in thinking
and imagining arrive at taking itself as an object
of thought or forming the idea of an idea."

" We will talk of all this some other day when
I have more time," said Rupert, rising ; u and I
may, I hope, now congratulate you on having
formed an i idea of an idea' which, I trust, will
put to flight all the apparitions which were so
destructive to your peace of mind when you
chanced to be in a room alone, or in the dark."

" Why, not exactly," answered Melanie with
some embarrassment, " for you see the two systems
admit of "

" An amalgamation ? " cried Rupert. u My dear
Melanie, that would take long to prove, and must
also be deferred to some other day. I ought to be
off now. if I mean to give you the pleasure of my
company at dinner."

" Try to be here in right time, Rupert, — you
know Wilhelm cannot endure having to wait."

" Then don't wait one minute for me. I say,
Melanie," he added, stopping at the door, " I wish
you would prevent Zorndorff from talking about
religion or philosophy before Cyrilla. She is very

CYRILLA. 157

young, you know, and he might fill her mind with
doubts and perplexities."

" And I say, Rupert, you seem to have a most
erroneous idea of Cyrilla. It is true she is young,
but she has read, heard, and seen much more than
you suppose, and can support her opinions as well
as can be expected from a woman."

ff Oh, I have the highest possible opinion of her
intellect and education, I assure you ; nevertheless,
you must allow that philosophical speculations are
useless, if not dangerous, for most people. I pity
those who make philosophy their study. What
has been the result of all our systems ? A collec-
tion of curious hypotheses, for the fabrication of
which we Germans are as celebrated as the Eng-
lish for their cutlery, or the Genevese for watches."

" But," said Melanie, " many things are taught
at our universities under the name of philosophy
that are both interesting and instinctive, without
being at all dangerous."

" You know very well that was not what I
meant, — I referred to Zorndorff's scepticism."

V Oh, I assure you he is greatly improved in
that respect. Cyrilla has been of great use to
him."

"Indeed!"

" He goes to church quite regularly now, pays
the greatest attention to the sermon, and talks of it

158 CYRILLA.

afterwards with us. Last Sunday he took notes,
and repeated the whole sermon in the evening al-
most word for word."

"In mockery!" exclaimed Rupert, his brows
slightly contracted.

" Not at all, perfectly seriously — he is remarka-
bly eloquent ; you must hear him some day."

" No, thank you," said Eupert, as he strode to-
wards the door ; " I prefer hearing a less eloquent
discourse from some one authorized to preach, —
from a man like Englmann, whose practice is a
living sermon of the doctrines he professes."

CYKILLA. 159

CHAPTER XI.

Melanie's remark, that Rupert could not endure
the idea of having offended any one, was perfectly
correct. Although intending to show, his indiffer-
ence to, and if necessary, his determination not to
marry his cousin, no sooner had he heard that
she was annoyed at his neglect, than he felt sorry
for it, and wished to make amends. When about
half way to Freilands, the voice of conscience be-
came so clamorous and reproachful that he turned
his horse's head, rode quickly back to Exfort,
dressed for dinner, and hurried to the Government
House, a full hour before he was expected. Cyrilla
and Zorndorff were in the drawing-room, the door
into the President's study was open, and his heavy
step was audible, as he paced backwards and for-
wards, while dictating in a low voice to his secre-
tary. Cyrilla was reading, Zorndorff writing, when

160 CYRILLA.

Eupert was announced, and they both looked up as
he entered.

Nodding familiarly to Zorndorff, he advanced
quickly towards Cyrilla; stooped down and kissed
her cheek ; hut it was with a nonchalance, made
rather too evident by the fact, that, at the same
moment, he drew off his gloves, and his eyes wan-
dered round the room in search of Melanie. Now,
Cyrilla, like all young and pretty women, was not
disposed to submit willingly to mere duty kisses ;
she would rather have dispensed with them alto-
gether, and endeavoured, by a very significant
shake of her head, to demonstrate her impatience
under the infliction ; she even bent over her book,
and pretended to read, as, with a laudable effort to
look grave and penitent, he said, " I hear you are
offended with me, Cyrilla, and I acknowledge not al-
together without reason ; nevertheless, I hope you will
forgive my — inattention — carelessness — thought-
lessness— or whatever name you may choose to

give my offence, when I but perhaps the best

thing I could do would be to tell you the real
cause of it !"

u If there be a cause," replied Cyrilla, while she
quietly played with the leaves of her book, " if
there be a cause, not one of the words you have
used is the right name for what you have done —
or rather not done!"

CYRILLA. 161

u Why Melanie herself could not have given me
a better answer," cried Kupert, laughing ; " I did
not expect you to weigh my words in that manner."

" Of course not," said Cyrilla ; fl I have heard
from Melanie that you consider me quite a child."

" When I saw you last, dear Cyrilla, you were
a child ; the intervening years have passed quickly,
and you are scarcely at all changed — I mean in fea-
tures. Even these long fair curls are just what they
used to be. Oh, why," he said, lightly touching
them ; u why are they not black, or even dark
brown?"

" Because I am an Adlerkron Windhorst," an-
swered Cyrilla, laughing ; " and while they re-
mind you of our near relationship, they tell you, as
plainly as words could do, that their colour can
never in any way interest or concern you."

" Do they? I wonder if your mother would al-
low your curls to speak in this manner to me

— my aunt certainly would not."

" What mamma would permit, I don't know ;
what my aunt — I don't care."

" Then she did say something to you about it ?"

"About what?" asked Cyrilla, looking up in-
quiringly.

" About me."

11 Not a word — not a syllable — but I heard from
others that you had the ridiculous weakness of

162 CYRILLA.

imagining that every woman who was commonly
civil to you must necessarily wish to marry you ! "

" Who could have traduced me in this man-
ner ! " exclaimed Rupert, while a blush of mixed
annoyance and shame spread over' his features.
" What a weak vain fool you must think me ! "

" Not. exactly," said Cyrilla ; " for the person
who gave me the information more than hinted
that it was your possessions, and not your person,
that you suspected to "be the object of all designing
womankind."

Rupert remained silent for more than a minute.

" It seems," added Cyrilla, " that you cannot
quite deny the charge."

" I was not thinking of it," replied Rupert, " I
— I wish we were alone — I should like to be per-
fectly candid with you."

" He is too busy writing to hear us," said Cy-
rilla, glancing towards Zomdorff; "but we can go
to the sofa at the window, if you choose."

And to the sofa they went, and Rupert, without
hesitation or reserve, whispered the whole story of
his aunt's plans. Cyrilla did not attach the im-
portance to his communication which he had ex-
pected, and seemed to think the whole affair very
amusing; but the merry answer and light laugh
that served so completely to reassure him, equally
effectually destroyed the equanimity of Count Zom-

CYRILLA. 163

dorff. She had thought him too busy writing to
hear ; but he had heard Kupert, with all the fami-
liarity of near relationship, call his cousin " dear
Cyrilla," and use the pronoun, Du, the tutoi-
ment Dutzen, as it is called in Germany, which in
itself removes at once all obstacles to perfect inti-
macy : he saw Cyrilla go with him to a distant
sofa, and whisper and laugh ! And there they
were now, as if they had been together all their
lives, talking of places and people he knew nothing
about !

He stopped writing, leaned his head on his hand,
and indulged in a long reverie of a more serious
than agreeable nature, the result of which seemed
to be a determination not to look at or disturb the
conversation of the cousins, for he took up his
papers and walked with them into the President's
study.

" Ah, I'm so much obliged to ZorndorfTfor taking
himself off," observed Kupert.

"I'm afraid we have disturbed him," said Cyrilla,
" and he was writing something of consequence for
his uncle."

" What made him bring anything of that kind
to write in this room?"

u He says he likes the temperature here, and the
perfume of the flowers," replied Cyrilla.

" Luxurious fellow !" exclaimed Kupert ; " un-

164 CYRILLA.

changed, unchangeable! but a what were we

talking about? My uncle Carl? or the time

we were at Aix or, no our aunt in Salzburg,

I believe Dreadful woman is n't she ?"

" Most unamiable, most disagreeable," said
Cyrilla.

" And then her stinginess ! what one suffers
from cold in her house is intolerable !"

" Thank Heaven, I have never been obliged to
live with her," rejoined Cyrilla.

" But I was," said Eupert, " and longer than I
liked. However, directly I left the university, I
proposed travelling, and when my uncle refused his
consent, I went into the army — more to get away
from her than for anything else. As long as my
uncle lived, his house of course remained my head
quarters, but when she became a widow, I decamped
altogether. Had she married General Zorndorff,
as we expected, though it would have half disin-
herited me, I might have been tempted to stay
with them, more for the fun of the thing, however,
than because I happened at the time to be his aid-
de-camp."

"General Zorndorff!" repeated Cyrilla, " any
relation of. "

u Only his father, but as different a man as can
well be imagined : they had been engaged to each
other during some of those years of revolution

CYKILLA. 165

which now belong to history, but being both hot-
tempered, they quarrelled, and mutually returned
all letters and locks of hair. The war separated
them, and our aunt married uncle Gottfried."

" What a life he must have led with her! " ob-
served Cyrilla.

" Not so bad as you suppose. He was one of
those quiet sort of men who do what they like
themselves, and let others do the same ; they never
interfered with each other. He attended to his
wide-spreading speculations, employed his leisure
hours in the arrangement of my affairs, as you
know he was my guardian, and his wife amused
herself with her house friend.''''

" Her house friend !" repeated Cyrilla, " and
who was that ?"

" They were numerous. I can remember at least
half-a-dozen."

" I did not think she had so many friends in the
world," said Cyrilla.

" Oh, the friendship was not very great after all

— they were only people young men who,

having plenty of time to spare, got the habit of
being eternally in her house, blowing the flute,
scraping the violin, or driving about with her — just
like Polyak, you know. Now, when the General
as widower and she as widow again became be-
trothed, he informed her in one of their t<zte-a-tetes

166 CYRILLA.

that, though he had an aid-de-camp, he should
consider such an appendage quite unnecessary for
his wife but " said Rupert stopping sud-
denly, " perhaps I ought not to tell you all this....
it 's very improper conversation eh ? "

"Oh, not at all," said Cyrilla, laughing, " only
family affairs which I ought to know : pray, go
on."

" Well, he plainly insisted on a cessation of all
such demi-sentimental connexions at once and for
ever ; said that he had no fancy for blowing out his
own brains or those of any one else, and such would
inevitably be the consequence of a persistence in
the line of conduct which she had observed during
her first marriage ! It was strong language to use
towards a middle-aged woman who was about to
settle half of her very large fortune upon him ; but
I think he acted honourably, though many people,
and among them his son, thought him a great fool.
I am told that this their second encounter, in all the
strength of riper years, was terrific — they separated,
vowing never to speak again: but the cause of
quarrel became known; my aunt received one or
two disagreeable anonymous letters, could not avoid
meeting the General wherever she went, and at last
emigrated to Salzburg."

" Quite a history," said Cyrilla, thoughtfully,
" but," she added, looking up with a smile, " but

CYRILLA. 1G7

suppose now she were to many Count Polyak,
how odd it would be to have such a little young
uncle ! "

" Not the least idea of any such thing on either
side," answered Rupert. " When the regiment
leaves, Polyak will give her some handsome present
as souvenir , (she never gives anything,) and then
she will look out for his successor, and so it will go
on until she is quite old, when she will either
become outrageously pious, or an inveterate card-
player."

" A card-player, I fear," said Cyrilla; " for dear
mamma was often obliged to play with her for
hours last winter; and sometimes Fernanda, even
when dressed for a ball, has been forced to play
piquet until the carnage came to the door."

Melanie at this moment entered the room, and
Rupert exclaimed, " Well, I hope you have arrang-
ed everything with the President, and I may expect
you all to-morrow at Freilands?"

"Yes; Wilhelm did not make a single objec-
tion— likes the plan of all things — but poor dear
Edouard "

" And what prevents ' poor dear Edouard ' from
going also?" asked Rupert, laughing; "he can
drive into and out of Exfort every day with Fal-
kenstein, and if he prefer riding, he can have a
horse."

" Such a one perhaps as you lent me, when I

168 CYRILLA.

was last in Berlin ! " said Zorndorff, who was now
standing at the door with the President.
Rupert coloured and laughed.
" What do you mean? " asked Melanie.
" He offered me the choice of all his horses, and
when I went to his stables, not one of any descrip-
tion was there, they had all been borrowed or taken
off by his friends. On my observing that I should
be glad to have a phaeton, droschka, or whatever
might be forthcoming, one of the grooms informed
me that the head coachman had just driven out
with the only pair of carriage horses left."

" I promise that nothing of that kind shall
happen while you are at Freilands," said Eupert.
" Nevertheless, I must refuse your invitation."
" But you will honour my dejeune with your
presence next week, I hope," said Rupert, care-
lessly, Zorndorff' s refusal apparently making much
less impression on him than on the others.
"What day is it to be?"

" Ask Melanie or Cyrilla. I intend to give them
carte blanche to make Freilands as gay as it can
be made, for the next six weeks. We shall begin
with a dejeune', because some of my fair friends in
Exfort choose to say that I promised to give one as
soon as I should enter into possession ; and, indeed,
I don't know what we could do better."

" Nothing," said Cyrilla, " excepting, perhaps,
getting up a comedy, or an opera, or "

CYRILLA. 169

"Delightful!" cried Rupert eagerly; "there is
a large space on the top of the house, which seems
as if it had been intended for a theatre. And now,
Melanie," he added, as they went to dinner, " if
you can arrange some tableaux, and discover a
haunted room at Freilands, I really think we shall
be able to give the inhabitants of Exfort something
to talk about."

VOL. I.

170 CYRILLA,

*

CHAPTER XII.

Freilands was deficient in all the interest at-
tached to an old, but abounded in all the comforts
expected from a new place. The first building, a
hunting-lodge, had been turned into offices, when,
after a few visits, the proprietor had discovered
that the park possessed beauties which rendered it
worthy of being the site of a handsome residence.
Not alone was it enlivened and irrigated by a not
quite inconsiderable river, but a lake of very fair pro-
portions, and trees of every possible size and descrip-
tion, had been by him so judiciously brought to
view, that even Prince Piickler might have been
satisfied, and no one in Exfort had thought of dis-
puting the propriety of denominating the grounds
about the house, " English gardens."

The building itself had a noble hall, a magnifi-
cent staircase, high spacious rooms, large windows,

CYRILLA. 171

and a long wide stone balcony, which formed a
roof to the portico under which the principal
entrance had been made. The furniture was the
handsomest that the best upholsterer in Berlin
could furnish, and was rich, comfortable, and per-
fectly modem. Rupert had reserved but one room
for himself, which he justly thought he could
arrange better than any one else ; it was his own
private sitting-room, the walls of which he purposed
covering with a perfect and valuable collection
of the newest arms of all descriptions, from the
most diminutive pistol to the longest rifle, the
lightest dagger to the most ponderous sword. The
apartment he happened to choose was at the very
end of the reception rooms, and particularly cheerful,
from having both a south and west aspect; but,
when he returned home from his cousins on the
evening just recorded, to his infinite dismay he
discovered in this very room a large glass, extend-
ing from the ceiling to the floor, just opposite the
doorway, and occupying the place intended for his
muskets and carabines.

All protestations were vain; such a glass was
necessary to extend the vista — the end room at the
other side was also furnished with one. It must
be so.

■ Then," said Rupert, " you may furnish this
room altogether like the other end room, and I

172 CYKILLA.

shall take the one adjoining it ; but it is hard
enough that I may not have the room I like best
in my own house."

"In fact," said the upholsterer, evidently pleased
at the concession, although so unwillingly made,
" in fact, the room belongs to the suite, and ought
never to have been, allow me to say so, disfigured
with guns and swords. If they had been pictures,
indeed, "

u No pictures," cried Rupert, impatiently; " I
am tired of pictures, and wish this house to be as
light and cheerful as possible — glasses and cande-
labra as many as you please, but no pictures."

u But," asked the man, a little alarmed, " but
you have no objection to the frescoes in the ball-
room, I hope? The dancing figures are so ap-
propriate, that I left them as I found them,
and "

" O, I have no objection to dancing figures,"
said Rupert, good-humouredly, " or to the Cupids
either, who seem to be playing at hide-and-seek
among the wreaths of impossible flowers that adorn
the orchestra gallery."

The upholsterer bowed — he did not feel quite
sure of the sincerity of the praise bestowed, but he
consoled himself with the idea that a little irritation
was natural on the part of his employer, when he
had been almost compelled to resign a room to

CY1ULLA. 173

which he had evidently taken a fancy. As Rupert
whistled for his dogs and walked off towards the
lake, the workmen were summoned, and, late as it
was, all the furniture, guns, pistols, and swords
inclusive, removed into the adjoining room, arrang-
ed according to a sketch found on the writing-table,
and the rose-coloured furniture which had that day
arrived from Berlin substituted. When Rupert
returned, they were still hammering at the curtains,
and the sound induced him to look into the room.
After a short survey, he seemed more than contented
with the change, and smiled with inward satisfac-
tion as he thought, u I shall tell Melanie, that I
expect her to consider this room as especially hers,
on account of the colour of the furniture, and then
I can manage like the President, and open and shut
my door according as I feel disposed for company
or — solitude."

The next day his relations arrived, but Rupert
did not manage like the President, for he never felt
at all disposed for solitude : the door of his armoury,
as Cyrilla directly named his room, was never
closed, and he began very soon to discover that
fair hair and delicate features looked quite as well
as their contraries, when seen in the light reflected
from rose-coloured silk. How far the principle of
opposition to the " dreadful woman," (namely his
aunt,) might have enabled him to resist these

174 CYKILLA.

.allurements, it is hard to say; but he was not proof
against the fascination of Cyrilla's voice and highly
cultivated talent for music. He was himself an
excellent musician, and his well exercised tenor
harmonized naturally and easily with her high
soprano : charmed with her, and perhaps not a
little pleased with himself, he induced her every
evening to sing with him, apologizing to her,
and even in some degree to himself, for the hours
spent in the music-room, by whispering, " We must
do something to amuse the President, or he may
get tired of Freilands."

One evening before the lighted lamps had drawn
them together, while Melanie was sitting in the large
balcony, which it has been said formed the roof of
the portico, pensively gazing on the rising moon,
the President standing at a window endeavouring
to catch the last rays of departing daylight on
a book over which he resolutely bent, Rupert
called Cyrilla into the music-room, and begged her
to sing for him — for him alone. u There is nothing
so de — licious as music in this twilight hour," he
added; H and I think I feel rather disposed for
something sentimental or melancholy, just at
present."

Cyrilla's light fingers modulated through several
keys, before she felt herself sufficiently melancholy
to sing u Theckla's Song " of despairing love.

CYRILLA. 175

Rupert had walked to the other end of the room
when she began : he soon again approached her,
for, to suit the words, which she pronounced with
extraordinary distinctness, her voice became softer
and softer, and he drew nearer and nearer, until lie
reached a chair close to hers. She ceased almost
whisperingly, and remained silent, her hands falling
listlessly together. Like most people who sing with
feeling, she was moved, " even with the sound
herself had made."

" Thank you," he said absently, and then, after
a pause, added, " If you were other than my light-
hearted cousin Cyrilla, I should feel convinced that
nothing but a personal appropriation of those words
of Schiller's could enable you to sing them with
such expression — such passion."

ff I fancied myself in the place of Theckla while
I was singing."

U And you felt " began Rupert.

ff I felt for the moment all her painful uncer-
tainty, her hopes, her fears. I even tried to
imagine her love for Max Piccolomini, that most
perfect personification of truth and honour; but
now," she said gaily, u now I feel nothing of all
this ; I only perceive that I am in a very dark room
with my cousin Rupert, whose resemblance to
Piccolomini I have yet to learn."

u I hope that in truth and honour I may never

176 CYRILLA.

be found deficient," said Rupert; "and as your
imagination seems to be strong, I should like very
much to know if you have already formed, not
what Melanie would call an ideal, but a rational
incorporation of these qualities, and as many others
as are necessary to make a "

" Whose voice is that in the next room ? " cried
Cyrilla, suddenly rising. u Can it — can it be
Count Zorndorff? "

" Very probably," answered Rupert, not quite
willingly following her out of the room.

It was ZorndorrT — he was leaning against one of
the glass doors opening on the balcony, and speak-
ing to Melanie, who sat outside. As the moonlight
fell on his pale features, Cyrilla observed a languor
in them and in his whole appearance almost denot-
ing illness, and though he must have heard her
speaking to Rupert as she entered the room, he did
not look up until both stood beside him.

" I hope," said Rupert, u you have got tired of
being alone, and that you have come to remain here."

" No, oh no," cried Melanie quickly, u he must
not think of such a thing."

" And why? " asked Rupert, with some surprise.
" Did you not tell me you wished of all things
to consult him about our dejeuner — that I was too
great a blockhead to be able to give you any advice
concerning the arrangements ? "

CYRILLA. 177

" Dear Rupert, I certainly did not call you a
blockhead," said Melanie; "I only observed that
it would not do to leave everything to your house-
keeper and chef de cuisine."

•• Well, at all events, to my certain knowledge
you wrote ZorndorfT a note this morning, telling
him our dilemma about the theatre, and asking his
advice ; and now that he is here, you will not allow
him to remain with us."

" I have heard that your theatre cannot be ready
even for the projected tableaux," said ZorndorfT,
"tand that is — partly — the — the reason why I have
walked here this evening. I came to speak to you
about a substitute."

*• You walked here ! " said Cyrilla ; " ah, that is
the reason you look so fatigued — the day has been
unusually sultry."

ZorndorfT glanced for a moment towards Melanie,
bent his eyes on the ground, and remained silent.

" And the substitute ? " asked Rupert.

" Is of a kind more likely to interest others than
you," answered ZorndorfT,* u a French magnetizer,
and a young man who allows himself to be mag-
netized, have just arrived at Exfort, and would
have no objection to "

"Ah! that will do famously," cried Rupert,
interrupting him; H engage them by all means.
How did you happen to hear of them ? "

i2

178 CYRILLA.

" Count Lindesmar gave them a letter to his
sister, Madame de Bellegarde, and she naturally
thought that my aunt was the person most likely
to be of use to them."

" Pray, Melanie," said Rupert, " write to the
Bellegardes, and tell them to bring these magnetic
treasures with them to-morrow."

" Madame de Bellegarde's sister arrived to-day
from Italy with her husband," observed ZorndorrT;
" perhaps you would like to have them also."

u. What, Virginie? " exclaimed Rupert.

u Virginie" said ZorndorrT with some emphasis.

" I must send an express to Exfort directly,"
cried Rupert, ringing the bell; " and," he con-
tinued, turning to Melanie, " as the De Rubignys
will probably come with the Bellegardes, you may
say that we shall send a carriage for these magnetic
men."

Melanie went with him into another room to
write ; Zorndorff joined the President, who just
then entered, and walked up and down the large
apartment with him in grave discourse ; Cyrilla,
left alone, turned into the balcony, and, leaning
against the balustrades, indulged in a long and
earnest reverie. Her youthful face had the unusual
expression of deep sadness, and, if the truth must
be told, she at that moment felt herself oppressed
by " a world of woe and sorrow." She did not

CYRILLA. 17JJ

attempt to analyze her feelings — it would have been
difficult to have done so; for surprise, wounded
pride, irritation, and grief, struggled for pre-emi-
nence, until disappointment of the bitterest descrip-
t it m took possession of her mind. She had gone
to meet Count ZorndorfT with a heart beating
violently from joyful expectation, and he had
scarcely looked at her, scarcely answered her, had
been indifferent, cold, almost glacial. She worried
herself endeavouring to find out the cause of so
unexpected a change of manner until the lamps
were lit, when she left the balcony, and, taking a
book, seated herself at a distant table, and made
the most violent efforts to be deaf to the sound of
perambulating feet, and to concentrate her thoughts,
through the medium of her eyes, on the pages
before her — in vain. The words conveyed no mean-
ing to her mind, and even while she read them,
Zomdorff 's figure as he had listlessly leaned against
the glass door, was ever officiously presenting itself.
Slowly she laid down the volume, and reluctantly
divw a piece of work towards her; for her fingers
having been chiefly employed in acquiring mecha-
nical dexterity on the keys of a pianoforte, and in
the nice management of a pencil or paint-brush,
she was but an indifferent embroiderer ; neverthe-
less, like all her female acquaintance, she had an
astonishing piece of work in progress, and, on the

180 CYRILLA.

present occasion at least, had reason to agree with
Bacon in thinking it pleasant to have U a lively
work npon a lightsome ground."

Perhaps the only time when a woman can justly
rejoice in being a woman, is on an occasion like
the foregoing. In moments of mental uneasiness,
or even mental pain, the alleviation given by a
needle is indescribable : it seems to possess a sort
of magnetic power in drawing the cares from the
brain to itself; and even when its motions are use-
lessly employed, the mere effort to direct it gener-
ally distracts the mind or occupies the thoughts so
effectually, that it produces in very expert and very
indifferent workwomen precisely the same result.
The flower over which Cyrilla now bent her grace-
ful head assumed a most fanciful form. It may
have been oriental, and have possessed a mysterious
meaning — in the German flora it could not be found ;
and Rupert, on his return, as he leaned over her
chair, compared it without circumlocution to the
wonderful flowers on the ball-room gallery.

" I believe you are right," said Cyrilla, smiling,
as she held it at a little distance; " I have, as usual,
made some stupid mistake in counting the stitches.
I wish I could work like Adrienne de Bellegarde,
or Julia de Lindesmar."

" Have they become particular friends of yours?"
demanded Rupert.

CYRILLA. 181

H Not exactly — but they are the gayest people in
Exfort; and everybody knows, or wishes to know
them. They are rather free, or French, as they call
it, in their manners."

After a pause, Kupert observed, " Madame de
Bellegarde's sister has arrived from Italy, and will
probably be here to-morrow."

" The Vicomtesse de Rubigny, is it not? " asked
Cyrilla, beginning to pick out the petals of her
fancy flower.

" Yes."

" I am rather curious to see her," she continued,
" for she must strangely resemble me in voice and
manner."

" In voice extremely," said Rupert, a little em-
barrassed, " in manner not at all ; it is only a
harebrained fellow such as I am who could for a
moment have mistaken one for the other — the room
was dark, and I was at the time in daily expecta-
tion of seeing her."

u Were you? " said Cyrilla, leaning back in her
chair, and looking up at him ; " she is handsome,
I suppose?"

" N— o, I believe not."

"Not plain, surely?"

" Oh no ! "

" Well, what is she then ? " .^d

" Interesting-looking."

182 GYRILLA.

" And is she amusing, talkative like her sis-
ters ? ' '

" She is not — talkative."

" Nor you either, this evening," said Cyrilla,
rising just in time to hear Zorndorff say to Me-
lanie : —

" I should like to see the whole house ; jow
know I have a great fancy for furniture and every-
thing of that kind. I know a great deal more
about the castle at Windhorst than Adlerkron
does."

" That's quite true," said Rupert. " Fancy his
counting the windows there one fine morning, and
telling me I did not deserve to possess such a place,
because I did not know how many openings had
been made in the walls to admit the light of day."

" I recommend his waiting for the light of day
to inspect Freilands," observed the President,
" and think, if he mean to return home to-night,
the sooner he sets out on his walk the better."

" I can look at the house," said Zorndorff, " and
drink tea with you too before I leave, as there is
moonlight. Come, aunt Melanie, you must be my
cicerone."

" You will not require much time," said Rupert,
" for the hall, staircase, these rooms, and .the ball-
room, are alone worth looking at — the wings have
only a ground floor; one belongs to the President.

CYRILLA. lho

and my cousins, the other, with the breakfast and
dining room, is intended for visiters. You will find
a room ready for you if you choose to occupy it.'1

ff Not just to-night — but perhaps "

" Come," said Melanie, u you shall first see
Rupert's rooms, as they are a continuation of
these."

" Don 't forget to show him the beautifully inlaid
pistols," said Cyrilla, as they were leaving the room.

ZorndorfF stopped for a moment, and observed,
" I suppose Adlerkron has been performing some
of his extraordinary feats with a pistol for you.
A man's life would not be worth much who was
to meet him in a duel."

"I don't know that," said Rupert, pushing a
chair towards Cyrilla ; " shooting at a mark and
firing at a man are very different things."

" Do you shoot so very well?" asked Cyrilla,
turning to him.

" Yes, but we are not going to talk of that now
— I want to tell you about the pony-carriage that
will be here the day after to-morrow."

H Oh how good-natured of you, in the midst of
all your arrangements here, to remember that I
said I should like to have a pony-carriage."

fj 1 remembered that you said you should like to

learn to drive, and and I like very much the

idea, of teaching you. Are you courageous ? "

184 CYRILLA.

■" Not very ; I rather hope the ponies may be
very quiet."

He believed — he was almost sure they were
steady — she would like the drives in the wood
when the weather was warm, but some morning
early she must go to the moor, the most interesting
though worthless part of Freilands, but he had
extensive plans for the improvement of it — he
would show her a map and explain how in twenty
or thirty years the whole marsh could be made
arable land.

The President looked over his book, raised his
eyebrows, and drew his mouth into a more signifi-
cant than becoming grimace, while the cousins
pored over the map together, their blonde curling
hair so exactly the same colour, that at a little dis-
tance the two heads appeared like one.

Nearly an hour elapsed before Melanie returned;
when she did so, she was alone. " Edouard," she
said, " had thought it better to return home before
midnight."

([■ Unsociable fellow," exclaimed Kupert, " there
is no use in trying to be intimate or friendly with
him; he repulses all advances, though he has told
me more than a dozen times that our fates are
mysteriously linked together, and that we can
never long remain asunder."

"Did he? Where did he hear that?" asked

CYRILLA. 185

Melanie, with an appearance of the deepest in-
terest.

" A few years ago, he discovered some wonder-
ful man — an astrologer — who drew a scheme of his
horoscope. He wanted to have mine too, but I
refused to tell him any particulars concerning the
day and hour of my birth. I heard afterwards he
took the trouble to make the necessaiy inquiries of
my uncle."

" And you never questioned him? "
" Never."

" Do you mean to say," asked Cyrilla, " that
you did not feel any curiosity? "

" No, I don't mean to sav that ; but I am more
than inclined to doubt the power of any one to
augur or predict from the conjunction of stars at
the hour of birth ; and I am quite convinced that
the knowledge of our future in this world is denied
us for a good purpose, and is certainly conducive to
our happiness."

" But," hesitated Melanie, " but you don't
think it — absolutely — irreligious, having one's
horoscope ? "

" He has told you plainly," said the President,
looking up suddenly, " that he considers it useless
and — foolish ; and he is right, for tampering with
one's happiness is folly."

Melanie shrank, as she always did from the
probably unintentional harshness of the President,

180 CYRILLA.

and became silent j the subject was one that Ru-
pert disliked; Cyrilla was indifferent and pre-
occupied; and the conversation continued very
desultory until the party separated for the night.

Cyrilla was still sitting at an open window in
her room, when she heard a gentle knock at the
door, and immediately after Melanie stood before
her in a long white robe, with a taper in her
hand.

" Enter, Lady Macbeth ! " said Cyrilla, smiling
faintly, while she turned towards her without
moving from the low chair near the window where
she had been sitting motionless for more than half-
an-hour. " Are you walking in your sleep? or has
the President got an express from Exfort? "

" Neither," answered Melanie. " The fact is,
Cyrilla," she continued, extinguishing her taper and
then walking uneasily up and down the room, u the
fact is, I must speak to you — must tell you some-
thing— must get your assistance "

" If your manner were not so very really serious,"
said Cyrilla, " I should imagine you were about to
disclose some grand secret concerning to-morrow's
festivities."

" O, I am not thinking of to-morrow, I can only
think of one thing now. Tell me, Cyrilla," she
cried, stopping suddenly before her, u you — you
don't-^no, I know you don't — care at all for
Edouard ? "

CYEILLA. 187

u That would be unpardonable," answered Cy-
rilla, u after all the trouble you have taken to
make me like him."

" But I mean, you don't particularly like him?''

H Yes I do. 1 like talking to him better than
to any one I know when I feel disposed to be
rational — Rupert is more amusing and cheerful,
but "

" Ah ! — exactly — that's just the sort of answer
I wished for," said Melanie. " Now, dear, only
imagine," she continued, drawing a chair close to
her sister's, H only imagine — Edouard has had the
folly — the madness — after all my good advice and
warnings, to — to fall desperately in love with you !
Did you ever know anything so distressing? "

u Dreadful ! " said Cyrilla, with a smile of such
perfect satisfaction, that nothing but her sister's
pre-occupation could have prevented her from
observing it.

u He came here this evening," continued Me-
lanie, " to tell me that the short separation of ten
or twelve days had convinced him that he could
only live in your presence, that all his ambitious
projects had become worthless in his eyes, that he
heard your voice in every breeze, saw your face in
every — every "

" What? " asked Cyrilla, with a gay laugh.

u No matter. I see you are disposed to laugh

188 CYRILLA.

and be merry as usual. I hope, however, you will
have the kindness to aid my endeavours to cure
him of his unfortunate passion by showing him your
indifference and dislike in the plainest manner."

" But I neither feel the one nor the other," said
Cyrilla.

u Then you must feign both for his good."

u No, dear, I should rather not," said Cyrilla,
with considerable decision of manner.

" I could almost think our poor Edouard's
sufferings gave you pleasure," cried Melanie, petu-
lantly; " and, laugh as you will, he has suffered,
and greatly too. You must have perceived how ill
he looks."

u He does look ill," answered Cyrilla, forcing
her features into as serious an expression as the
exultation of her feelings at the moment would
permit, U but I supposed the long hot walk might
have "

U No, no, no, no ! He wanted at once to see
and speak to you. Fortunately, you were in the
music-room with Rupert, and he decided on con-
sulting me. I confess I could not restrain some
tears of sympathy, for I know too well what it is
to sacrifice love on the altar of necessity! "

"Dear Melanie!" said Cyrilla; and every parti-
cle of gaiety forsook her manner as she lightly laid
her hand on her sister's shoulder, and looked into

CYRILLA. 189

her large black eyes as they filled with the slowly
gathering tears of melancholy recollection.

" I listened to all he had to say," continued Me-
lanie, " and when he talked rationally of devoting
himself to his profession, and living contentedly,
as others have done and others will do, and added
that he had no doubt of rising rapidly in it, and
being in time able to satisfy the reasonable wishes
of any reasonable woman, I felt strongly inclined
to say, ' You are right, Edouard. If happiness be
attainable in this world, it is only to be found in
the society of a being with whom we feel con-
geniality of mind " '

"And," whispered Cyrilla, bending down her
head that her sister might not see the smile which
again played round her mouth, u and a mysterious
combination of spirits ! "

" Yes," said Melanie, by no means unconscious
of her sister's irony. u Yes, so I would have
spoken had the object of his affection been other
than you ; but knowing that it was on you that he
had bestowed this warmest feeling of his noble
heart, I was obliged to answer as you would have
done."

"Your answer?" cried Cyrilla quickly, and
with an anxiety she made no efforts to con-
ceal.

u It was prosaic in the extreme. I said that if

190 CYKILLA.

he talked in that war to you, you would laugh at
him!"

"Did you?" said Cyrilla, biting her lip and
breathing quickly, while she pulled and puckered
the trimming of her dressing-gown with great
diligence ; u and then ? "

u And then I told him how carefully and ra-
tionally you had been educated, and what pains
your mother had taken to prevent your having any
romantic ideas on the subject of marriage; and
though you might not altogether agree with her,
still "

" Really, Melanie," cried Cyrilla, with ill-con-
cealed impatience, " the manner in which you in-
form everybody that my mother is worldly, and

that I am looking for an eligible yparti, is is

most provoking ! I wonder that your own feelings
of delicacy do not prevent you from talking in this
manner of your nearest relations !"

" Edouard is also a relation, and I do not think I
have any right, from a mistaken notion of delicacy,
to endanger his peace of mind or future happiness."

" And is my peace of mind and future happiness
not worth taking into consideration?" asked Cy-
rilla reproachfully.

" I know that neither is in danger, for even sup-
posing that you liked Edouard, the fear of poverty
would soon stifle the imprudent affection."

CYRILLA. 191

" You forget that I have never known anything
but poverty since I was born," observed Cyrilla.

" Why, yes, and it was a luxurious kind of po-
verty ; for, after all, you always had everything
just like other people."

" True," answered Cyrilla, " but my father was
constantly in debt, and I should have preferred
feeling absolute want to hearing of bills unpaid,
and seeing my mother wasting away from care and
anxiety."

" Edouard never had never will have a

debt," said Melanie ; " he is too proud to endure
anything of that kind. He may wish for riches —
be discontented if he do not possess them, but he
will undoubtedly live within whatever income he
may have."

" In that case," said Cyrilla, " he can, as he said
himself, i satisfy the reasonable desires of any rea-
sonable woman ; ' and I hope, dear Melanie, con-
sidering the care with which you seem to think I
have been educated, you will allow me to take it
for granted that I am a reasonable woman?"

"You?"

" Yes ; the surprise you exhibit is not very flat-
tering, but still "

"I don't quite understand,'' cried Melanie, in
some alarm. "You don't mean to say that you
would think of marrying Edom-rd?"

192 CYRILLA.

" Suppose," said Cyrilla, with a slight laugh ;
" suppose I had discovered the congeniality of
mind of which you have so often spoken, and the
the " She stopped in a state of embar-
rassment, and blushing with an intenseness very
unusual to her.

" Good heavens ! " exclaimed Melanie, " you
surely do not mean to say that you love him?"

" I don't mean to say anything," answered Cy-
rilla, covering her face with her hands and bending
down her head ; " but I believe I feel more than I
need tell you or any one else."

Melanie rose, and again walked up and down the
room. " Cyrilla, this will never do," she exclaimed
at length. " Never — never — never. All your rela-
tions will raise objections. Your aunt will never
consent to your union with Edouard — she quar-
relled with his father, and "

" 0, I know all about that," said Cyrilla, "and
have not the least intention of ever asking her con-
sent."

" But you forget, dear girl, that she is the only
person who could, in any way, be of use to you on
such an occasion."

" She will never be of use to me, or to any one
else," rejoined Cyrilla.

" And then, Wilhelm — he would be outrageous,
— would not listen to Edouard for a moment."

CYRILLA. 193

" I imagine Count ZorndorfT is not likely to con-
sult the President," said Cyrilla ; if he is of an age
to judge for himself ; and having commenced his
bureaucratic career, is independent — even in his
poverty."

" I have nothing more to say," almost whispered
Melanie. u If you indeed love as I once did "

a A little more, I suspect," said Cyrilla, quickly;
"for no Count Falkenstein, — no one on earth,
— could induce me to sacrifice my love on the altar
of necessity."

" What a disagreeable habit you and Rupert
have of remembering and repeating my words,"
said Melanie, with some irritation.

" You ought to be flattered at our doing so ; it
is a proof that they are uncommon, and worth re-
collecting."

" Cyrilla, I have but one thing more to say. Do
not let Wilhelm know or even suspect any engage-
ment with Edouard, should you enter into one."

" My dear Melanie, you have said so much to
Coimt ZorndorfT about my rational education, —
have presented him such a disagreeable picture of a
heartless worldly girl, that I think it more than
probable he will let the matter rest for ever. I
have read and heard of men who have required less
to induce them to resign women better and wiser
than I am."

VOL. I. K

194 CYRILLA.

" 0, I have only to give him the slightest hint,"
began Melanie.

" Never," cried Cyrilla, springing from her chair
with a vehemence in strong contrast to her usual
gentle movements ; u never, to him or to any one,
hint or in any way refer to what has passed be-
tween us this night. Nothing would have tempted
me to speak to you as I have done, had it not been
absolutely necessary to disabuse your mind of the
erroneous idea you have formed of my character and
sentiments."

" I wish," said Melanie, " I had known this
sooner."

" Perhaps it is all for the best," replied Cyrilla.
" Count ZorndorrT can undoubtedly marry more
advantageously; and yet I cannot tell you," she
added, snatching her handkerchief from the toilet-
table, and hastily drawing it across her eyes, u I
cannot tell you how foolishly rejoiced I feel at what
I have just heard from you."

"Who " exclaimed Melanie, clasping her

hands, " who would have suspected this, after hear-
ing you laugh and jest on all such subjects with
Kupert!"

" And do you imagine that we have no feeling,
because we do not talk sentimentally? Believe
me, Melanie, people often laugh at and pretend in-
credulity in love, just as they do about ghost stories ;

CYRILLA. 195

all the while believing and fearing in spite of them-
selves."

" 0 no, Cyrilla ; if you had had my experience,
you would think differently. A woman perhaps
may speak in that way to conceal feelings that edu-
cation forbids her to exhibit ; but, believe me, a
man's jest on such a subject is bitter earnest. Well
have the ancients represented Love as a child — it
ought to be treated as such — tenderly — consider-
ately, not laughed at — irritated — browbeaten !"

" I'm sure I never meant to do anything of the
kind," said Cyrilla, with a demure smile.

aBut others have," said Melanie, looking up-
wards ; u and never can I forget the evening at the
Bellegardes, when Edouard talked so charmingly
on this very subject. We were speaking of Ger-
man legends ; and you may remember how he said
that they could be traced to the German mythology,
and how that had been mixed up with the Koman,
as the Koman with the Grecian, but that all the
fables of all mythologies contained very good sys-
tems of morals, if people would only take the trouble
of studying them. He gave several examples, which
were both ingenious and amusing ; and, among
other things, said that Cupid had been represented
as a child, and generally a young child, in order to
point out. what patience we should have with his
perverseness, violence, or instability."

196 CYRILLA.

" Yes," said Cyrilla ; " I remember also Adrienne
de Bellegarde getting into a sort of ecstasy, and
saying that Count Zorndorff deserved to be kissed

for his dear funny thoughts I think, too, he

requested her to kiss him if she felt the slightest in-
clination "

" Yes, I believe we laughed at her a good deal,"
said Melanie, " and said that was the only one of
his thoughts she had been able to understand ; but
you are sleepy, and to-morrow will be a fatiguing
day for us."

" Not for me," said Cyrilla, " as I have only to
amuse myself. I wish it were come "

" And how much has the desire to see Edouard
again to do with your wish ?"

" More than I should like to tell you, or even to
confess to myself," answered Cyrilla, sighing; " and
now, good-night."

CYKILLA. 197

CHAPTER XIII.

Rupert's invitations to his dejeuner-diner had been
so very general and comprehensive, and the anxiety
of the inhabitants of Exfort so great to take advan-
tage of such an opportunity of inspecting the im-
provements and new furniture at Freflands, that a
large proportion of the company began to arrive
with what Melanie called unconscionable exactitude,
that is, before she was ready to receive them ; but
in the meantime there were gardens to look at, and
shady walks to wander in, and bands of music and
tents, and when they had walked about, and looked
at everything and everybody, they began quietly
and at first imperceptibly to separate into classes.
The creme de la creme, who considered themselves
Melanie's intimate friends, unhesitatingly entered
the house, took possession of the large balcony, and,
secure from the sun's rays under the awning, lei-

198 CYRILLA.

surely inspected, through their single and double
lorgnettes, the remaining and larger portion of the
company, as they walked in groups under the trees,
— they being, if we may continue to pursue the
meaning of this truly German and pastoral meta-
phor, the milk, which had subsided, and let its
lighter part, the cream, rise. Now, in the town of
Exfort, as in all other towns, there was a quantity
of adulterated cream, whether composed by a mix-
ture of noxious or innoxious ingredients none but a
chemist, or a very nice observer, could tell ; but a
good deal of this description of cream, viz. a con-
siderable number of very well dressed and exceed-
ingly discontented men and women now began to
spread themselves before the house, equally afraid
of the reception which they might receive were they
to venture to mount the stairs, and of the loss of
caste which would inevitably ensue should they en-
joy themselves unrestrainedly with the others where
they were. Rupert, who could not, or would not,
understand any of these distinctions, appeared
among them, and immediately proposed their en-
tering. They looked at the balcony, then at each
other, and stood irresolute, until Cyrilla, who bet-
ter understood the state of the case, added, " Per-
haps you would like to look at my cousin's collection
of arms and pipes. I assure you," she continued,
as they all began to pour into the hall, u I assure

CYRILLA. 199

you the pipes are worth looking at, — I believe the
most of them are souvenirs j there are meerschaums
in every possible form, and carved wood, and some
cf china, with such beautiful paintings on them,
that if they did not smell of tobacco, I should have
stolen them long ago."

While the now gay and satisfied guests wandered
through the rooms, Cyrilla saw from one of the win-
dows the President's carriage drive under the por-
tico. While still considering whether or not his
nephew had arrived with him, Zorndorff passed
quickly through the room, overseeing her in the
crowd of ignoble persons by whom she was sur-
rounded, and entered the balcony, where he was
received with a sort of acclamation by the Belle-
gardes and their companions. She had not thought
of how she should receive him — had merely been
conscious of an undefined feeling of anxiety, and a
sort of curiosity to know how he would act. The
apparent continuation of his conduct of the evening
before was irritating enough, but her conversation
with Melanie had removed all doubts from her
mind, and she turned away, merely resolving to
leave him in vain expectation of her appearance on
the balcony or in the adjacent rooms for a longer
time than he might perhaps desire.

Rupert's laudable endeavours to banish ceremony,
by allowing every one to choose their own place

200 CYRILLA.

at the numerous and perfectly similar tables, had
been tolerably successful. Pleasure and expectation
lighted every countenance ; and the party round
each consisted generally of friends or acquaintances
who had sought each other, and were more than
usually united by a common feeling of hunger.
Rupert took possession of a place beside Cyrilla,
which she had unreservedly said belonged to him.

"What would I not give for your light heart,
Adlerkron ! " said Zorndorff, as he was passing to
the place vis a vis. " No sooner have you lost one
object of interest than you find another;" and he
glanced significantly from Cyrilla to the Vicomtesse
de Rubigny, who was sitting at the same table,
while he spoke.

" I don't understand you," said Rupert, care-
lessly, and then continued his conversation with
Cyrilla, as unconscious as she was conscious that
Zorndorff's eyes were fixed on them both with an
expression of such anxious interest that even Me-
lanie, who was not usually very observant, remarked
it ; and, fearing others might do the same, tried to
engage his attention.

" Edouard, have you heard what Professor Huber
lias been saying?"

"N — o; not exactly, I believe."

" I am so sorry, as it was just what you wanted
to know about magnetic manipulation."

CYRILLA. L'!)l

"Ah indeed T

" And then he has visited Justinus Kerner."

" I was at Weinsberg just after the Countess
Falkenstein left," said the Professor; "but I dare
not tell you," he added blandly, again turning to
Melanie, " I dare not tell you all that that most
amiable of poets and men said of the charming and
talented acquaintance he had just made."

" I spent several most happy days in the neigh-
bourhood of Weinsberg," said Melanie; "Kerner
surpassed all my expectations. There is an abyss
of poetry and fervour in his dark eyes. He is a
phenomenon that we must endeavour to retain in
all its pure originality, for the world is becoming
every day more and more prosaic and philosophical.
The time may come when the existence of such a
man maybe doubted he is already incompre-
hensible to many."

u Do tell me something about this Kerner," said
Cyrilla in a low voice to Rupert ; " who is he ?"

u A man who has written a good deal about the
sayings and doings of ghosts and goblins, and about
sausages being poisonous and people won't be-
lieve him."

" Xonsense, Rupert! I really wish to know

something of him ; Melanie has talked of nothing
else all day."

u Of course not, as her head is full of magnetism

k2

202 -'CYRILLA.

and the magnetizer. The fact is, this Justinus
Kerner is, I believe, a very amiable man, a physi-
cian, and a poet ; also the author of a work called
' The Somnambulist of Prevorst,' in which he de-
scribes the visions of a — a — a thoroughbred som-
nambulist. He has besides written some very....
what shall I call them ? — genuine lyrical poems."

" You may well say so ! " cried the Professor, en-
thusiastically ; " they are perfect, full of feeling,
beautiful! Pain and pleasure flow like turbulent
and gentle streams through the lines ; the ideas are
striking, and in the expression of melancholy he is
inimitable !"

" But," whispered Cyrilla, " is this poet the same
man who believes in ghosts ?"

" Yes, and they (I mean the ghosts) will make
him immortal, I suspect. His l Somnambulist ' may
not be read, his poems may be forgotten, but that a
man of learning and genius should, in the face of
the world, declare himself the champion of the very
commonest and most popular description of ghosts
and apparitions, is such an anomaly as must ensure
him fame ; and he deserves it, too, if it were only
for his moral courage."

" O, how you would admire him, did you but
know him!" cried Melanie.

" Very likely," answered Kupert, u as a humane
and excellent man, and an agreeable poet and com-

CYRILLA., 203

panion; but he would never make me believe in
gray shadowy figures, with burning eyes, and all
that sort of thing. However, this is scarcely a fit
place to discuss such subjects. With champagne in
our glasses, and pate defoie gras on our plates, who
can think of ghosts ? "

u For my part," said Cyrilla, " I greatly prefer
discussing and thinking of them in a crowded room,
and with champagne in my glass, to any other place
or in any other way."

" You are not afraid in the dark, like Melanie,
are you?"

" Xo ; but I don't like hearing odd noises and
rustlings in my room at night."

" Perhaps she is sensitive" cried Melanie, eagerly.

" Oh," said Cyrilla, colouring a good deal, " don't
imagine that I believe my dead friends or acquaint-
ances can appear to me ! Do you ? "

u I believe they can," answered Melanie, so-
lemnly, " if I were capable of seeing them."

" But," said Rupert, "it is not even necessary to
be a friend or acquaintance ; dead strangers appear
sometimes, requesting commiseration for their un-
happy state, or for the purpose of relating some in-
teresting family history or murder ghosts

are the greatest gossips imaginable!"

" And you really and truly believe this ! " said
Cyrilla, turning to her sister.

204 CYRILLA.

" I believe that those persons who die without
1 laving been very wicked, but yet having so little
religious feeling that they are not fit for heaven, are
in a certain degree still bound to the earth. I think
their spirits float in the air around us until they are
prepared for a better world."

" Some must float a confoundedly long time, I
suspect," murmured Rupert; but even while he
spoke, he looked merrily towards Melanie, raised
his champagne glass, and slightly bowed.

" A most disagreeable idea," said Cyrilla ; u I
now don't wonder at her being afraid to remain in
a room alone."

" The belief in the apparitions of living friends
is much more agreeable," observed Rupert.

" But do not such apparitions denote that the
person who appears will soon be numbered among
the dead?" asked Cyrilla.

" Not necessarily : that idea has rather gone out
of fashion, and the newest discoveries have proved
these apparitions to be emanations from the nerves.
They are now known by the name of nervous
spirits : ask Melanie."

But Melanie was talking earnestly in a low voice
to ZorndorfY, and did not hear the appeal.

" O, Rupert, I think you are inventing," cried
Cyrilla.

" Not in the least, I assure you. For instance,

CYRILLA. 205

suppose I feel an earnest desire, a desperate long-
ing to see you, my nervous spirit, or the spirit of
my nerves, releases itself from my long legs and
body, and I appear to you as a gray shadow, or
even with the colours of life, according to your
capability for discerning apparitions : my ap-
pearance under such circumstances does not make
it necessary that I should die the first convenient
opportunity afterwards ; but I believe I must be ill,

or in a delicate state of health, or no you

must be ill, or nervous, or something of that kind,
in order to be able to see me. Let us ask Melanie ;
she will be delighted to explain, if we have time and
patience to listen to the exordium."

Melanie was once more appealed to ; and though
at first unwilling to speak, a few judicious questions
from Eupert, asked in a serious information-seeking
manner, joined to the entreaties of the Bellegardes,
at length prevailed, and lowering her voice that it
might not reach her husband's ears, she began :
" There was a time when I also thought a disbelief
of ghosts, or a disavowal of any belief I might oc-
casionally feel, a matter of necessity — a proof of a

certain degree of cultivation of mind I am not

ashamed to acknowledge that that time is past, that
I have grown humbler, and am now ready to believe
things to be probable and possible which were for-

206 CYRILLA.

merly to me as well as to others unceasing subjects
of ridicule."

" Charmante, charmante, comme elle parle ! "
exclaimed the Vicomte de Rubigny, really charmed
with her animated countenance, but totally unable to
follow in German the sense of what she was saying.

" How often," continued Melanie, " have occur-
rences which appeared incredible proved in the end
natural phenomena ! "

" 0, we are quite ready to believe anything of
that kind," said Rupert ; " tell us something about
the apparitions of living people."

" You must agree with me in some other things
first," said Melanie, smiling. " Allow that there are
few human beings who have not, in the course of
their lives, had a prophetic dream, a warning, or
at least made use of some sympathetic remedy,
which is equivalent to an acknowledgment of a be-
lief in its efficacy."

" But such things have nothing to do with appa-
ritions," said Rupert.

" I think they have : these dreams, warnings,
remedies, come under the denomination of popular
superstitions, which you accuse Kerner of reviving."

" You never can forgive my having said that

Kerner' s spectres were bad style decidedly

vulgar ! "

CYRILLA. 207

" Kemer has not invented," rejoined Melanie,
" he has related simply what he heard. No one
doubts that he could have easily made a more in-
teresting and poetical narrative of his c Somnambu-
list,' had he been so disposed; but he preferred
conscientiously writing down her very words, and
as she could have no motive for deceiving him, why
should we not believe her visions, when there is
nothing in them that may not be reconciled with
the most sublime conceptions that religion can form
of a world of spirits, for instance that dark state of
those wandering ghosts "

u Never mind tkem, dear Melanie," said Eupert,
" but come to the apparitions — the emanations from
our nerves that waft our presence, as you so beau-
tifully express it, like the perfume of a flower, to

those at a distance from us all the while we

and the flowers yielding our emanations with-
out diminution of size or colour."

u I knew you intended to laugh at me " be-
gan Melanie; but at that moment a carriage drove
rapidly past the open windows; and on her re-
cognising it as one of Rupert's she whispered :
"It is the magnetizer ; I believe I ought to go to
him."

u That would be very kind of you," said Eu-
pert ; " and," he added, detaining her a moment as
she passed him, u if you want my assistance for

208 CYRILLA.

any of the wonders to be performed, I promise
not to betray yon for six whole weeks."

" Incorrigible unbeliever ! " she answered, laugh-
ing. " If there were any juggling in the business,
you would be sure to make a blunder to procure a
laugh ; but there is none. Edouard says they re-
quire nothing but an arm-chair, a table, and cards."

" Still I think I might make myself useful in
giving hints or winks in a quiet sort of way. I
assure you I am not such a donkey as you suppose."

" Just don't you concern yourself at all about
this matter," said Melanie, " but follow me with
these people as soon as they have done eating ices
and bon-bons."

Although a belief in animal magnetism* was
scarcely more prevalent in Germany than in Eng-
land at that time, and notwithstanding the deter-
mined distrust with which people generally spoke
of appearances not to be satisfactorily explained by
any effort of the five senses, the natural tendency of
the German mind to indulge in close and subtle me-
ditation, and to seize any subject likely to procure a

* The reader curious on such subjects is requested to bear in
mind that in 1831 the words "Animal Magnetism" &c, &c,
had not been pronounced incorrect by Reichenbach, nor had the
new force called Odyle been discovered by him. We may, it is
to be hoped, continue to use the words familiar to every one,
until others equally comprehensible or incomprehensible have
been substituted.

CYRILLA. 209

field for sophistical disquisitions, made the appear-
ance of the magnetizer be hailed almost with accla-
mation ; at least a noise beyond the sound of mur-
muring voices was heard, as the intelligence of his
arrival spread from table to table, and room to
room. The words magnetism, mesmerism, mag-
netic sleep, visions, &c, &c, which became more and
more audible, were uttered in every variety of tone,
and with a sort of enthusiasm by most of the female
part of the company ; for women are naturally in-
clined towards all that is mysterious and wonder-
ful, and more prone to what gives free scope to con-
jecture than to what incites to investigation. These
circumstances may have combined to create an in-
terest in the magnetizer ; but the greatest incentive
of all was fashion. The appearance of Kerner's
work had just then awakened the slumbering re-
collections of Mesmer and his followers; the decision
of the Societe de Medecim was forgotten ; accounts
of astonishing cures performed by somnambulists,
and of extraordinary prophecies and visions, had
reached the inhabitants of Exfort from time to time ;
the " Sphinx, or new Archive for Animal Magnet-
ism," was again read; and now now, for the

first time, a real somnambulist, and one, too, who
had exhibited (that was the word used) with un-
bounded applause in the salons of Paris, was to per-
form for them ! It would have been difficult to

210 CYRILLA.

have satisfied the expectations of the assembly ; but
" after all," as Kupert observed to Cyrilla, " it is
of no importance, provided they can amuse them-
selves until the ball-room be lighted."

The Salon became by degrees full — we must
say by degrees, for Melanie's friends, the crime de
la crime, taking advantage of their intimacy, retired
to her rooms to change their morning costumes for
the lightest and freshest ball dresses imaginable,
thereby, as they intended, effectually distinguishing
themselves from the rest of the company for the
remainder of the evening. It is astonishing how
much displeasure and annoyance this little strata-
gem caused, or how much it added to the unpopu-
larity of the perpetrators of it. Among themselves
much more unreserved and quite as good-natured
and affectionate as other people, they appeared to
those who did not belong to their coterie, haughty,
arrogant, heartless, and determined not to have
anything in common with the rest of the society,
of whom the younger female part suddenly found
their crape or chip bonnets intolerably heavy and
warm, and an emigration to one of the remote
apartments commenced, where several fantastic
pyramids of them were hastily erected on the sofas
and chairs. Mothers and chaperones, after a few
dissatisfied whispers, resigned themselves to the
comforts of the broad elastic causeuses or divans,

CYRILLA. 211

and nodded their heads and plumed bonnets with
persevering dignity.

One group of men surrounded Zorndorff, another
the President, and the different opinions for and
against the belief in mesmeric sleep were attacked
and defended with wit and acuteness ; the result
apparently being that the incredulous understand-
ing remained in most cases deaf to all the offered
metaphysical or mystical suggestions, and seemed
determined to yield to nothing but palpable or
ocular demonstration.

At length Melanie appeared — dignified, but evi-
dently in a state bordering on beatitude. She was
followed by the somnambulist, a very young, slight,
pale, and gentleman-like man. He spoke a few
words to the magnetizer, then seated himself in the
chair placed for him in the middle of the room,
and the business immediately commenced. In a
few minutes he began to turn and twist himself
uneasily, moved his arms, stretched out his legs,
turned up his eyes until the white alone was
visible, then rolled them lustreless around, and
finally closed them altogether: his body became
quieter, and at length his head found a resting-place
against the well stuffed side of the chair. The
magnetizer now commenced a series of movements
as if he were throwing something at him, and by
means of these and the assistance of a good deal of

212 CYRILLA.

friction the left arm was put into a state of total
inflexibility. The company were requested to
compare the pulses of the two arms ; several per-
sons did so, and declared that that of the left was
almost extinct. The operations now commenced
on the legs, which were put into a similar state of
rigidity, and afforded the persons who chose to
make the trial an apparently strong though some-
what elastic seat. The sleeper seemed to suffer
extremely during these experiments, and to feel a
relief similar to an awakening from nightmare
when they ceased.

His eyes were then bound, and cards placed on a
table beside him. One partner succeeded the other
from the rows of eager spectators, and the game
began after the players had, by pressing his hand,
given him a sign of sympathy. The cards of the
somnambulist lay in a heap, yet he generally chose
them judiciously ; when he made a mistake, which
did not often occur, trembling violently and becom-
ing impatient ; but he almost always won, and at
last played at a distance, and turned away from his
opponent.

After the card-playing came the reading of
closed or at least so folded letters that the con-
tents were invisible, and many were read with
extraordinary fluency. A few remarks about the
peculiarities of the manner of writing and orthog-

CYRILLA. 213

raphy causing much amusement. All this finished
expertness, however, failed to convince those pre-
determined not to believe, and their doubts were
strengthened when a few more carefully folded
papers seemed to puzzle the unfortunate being who
had allowed himself to be exhibited for their amuse-
ment.

Almost every one had written something, and
wished to have it read, in order to remove or con-
firm the doubts which they unreservedly expressed.
No one would believe the testimony of another, so
great was the fear of being imposed on. To this
murmuring multitude were opposed a small and
resolute band of enthusiasts, who would not listen
to an expression of suspicion or hesitation, and
appeared quite overpowered by astonishment and
admiration at every well-played card and every
line that was correctly deciphered.

At length the company began to crowd round
the somnambulist and overwhelm him with ques-
tions, the answers to which, like those of the oracles
of old, admitted of various interpretations ; but the
President, who had at first looked on with rigid
attention, now began to exhibit some impatience; he
approached Melanie, and whispered authoritatively,
" We have had enough of this trifling, put an end
to it as soon as you can !" then turning to Profes-
sor Huber, who was standing near him, he ob-

214 CYRILLA.

served, " I have seen these useless performances
with cards and letters with a good deal less pleasure
than those of an expert juggler. I wish to be sur-
prised by the juggler, and make little or no effort
to understand what I see ; here I try to understand,
and can do nothing but suspect charlatanry."

" I perceive your Excellency doubts the realities
of magnetic relations and magnetic sleep ?"

" I acknowledge myself incapable of giving an
opinion," answered the President. " The question
embraces physiological and psychological pheno-
mena that deserve investigation ; but I prefer leav-
ing the elucidation to men of science, and totally
disapprove of working on the nerves or imagination
of partially diseased bodies or minds for the pur-
pose of satisfying frivolous curiosity, or affording
temporary amusement."

Rupert, who had during the whole time looked
on and listened with an attention that had both
surprised and gratified Melanie, now walked to-
wards her and whispered, " Extremely well got
up ; I am so much obliged to you ! " As she indig-
nantly prepared to answer him, he moved away,
and she was soon surrounded by those who either
agreed with her in opinion, or deemed it necessary
to say something civil, learned, or wise, on the
occasion.

There were also a select few, who nodded their

CYEILLA. 215

heads, looked solemn, and came to the conclusion
among themselves that the young man's capabili-
ties were not to be compared to those whose mag-
netic sleep came without the assistance of art.

The sound of music from the ball-room put an
end to all the discussions, and the rest of the even-
ing was spent there. ZorndorfT, though he scarcely
ever danced, took advantage of Rupert's being less
at liberty than usual, and immediately engaged
Cyrilla. A very few minutes sufficed to renew their
intimacy and good understanding. Without any
explanation, he became precisely what he had been
before she had quitted Exfort ; and, perfectly satis-
fied with her sister's communication, she cared not
how long the present state of pleasing perplexity
continued.

It was at a late, or rather early hour, that the last
carriage, containing the Bellegardes, drove away.
The President had retired to rest at his usual time ;
and as Melanie, Cyrilla, and Rupert passed together
through the u banquet-halls deserted, " they dis-
covered ZorndorfF stretched on one of the stone
benches in the balcony, apparently watching the
gradual approach of day.

" Handsome fellow!" observed Rupert in a low
voice to his cousins ; u what a pity it is he cannot
or will not enjoy life like other people ! Zorn-
dorfF," he added, walking towards him, " you will

216 CYRILLA.

find a better bed below stairs, and I recommend
your trying it."

" Thank you," he replied, slowly rising ; "I in-
tend to accept your often proffered hospitality for a
few days. This house is too gay to be willingly
changed for my lonely apartments."

" That is the most sensible speech I have heard
you make for a long time," said Rupert. " These
dejeuners are famous things ; I should not have any
objection to have one every week I"

CYRILLA. 217

CHAPTER XIV.

11 1 AM sorry to perceive that Edouard is one of
those people who make it a point never to be in
time for breakfast/' observed the President to Cy-
rilla one morning as they met at an early hour. u I
almost expect he will at last order his coffee to be
taken to his room, that he may smoke as he does
when at home. If he had been living in my house
during his youth, he would never have acquired
such habits."

u And yet," said Cyrilla, smiling, " you allow
Melanie to breakfast in her room, and she has done
so in your house for more than twelve years."

" Twelve years and some months ; but let me
tell you, C)Tilla, if she had begun this habit eleven
years and some months ago, I should never have
permitted it. Twelve years ago, Melanie was very
young and very beautiful, and I was neither, but

VOL. I. L

218 CYRILLA.

very much in love ; and consequently, for the time
being, an indulgent, idolizing fool!"

" I cannot imagine you very much in love," said
Cyrilla, as her eyes passed from the tall unpliant
form, to the pale severe face, of her brother-in-law;
" in fact, I cannot fancy you at all in love."

" I am glad to hear it ; as, from what I have just
said, I may infer that you cannot imagine me a
fool. But here comes Rupert ; he has been up and
out some hours. I do not know which is most to
be admired — his active habits, or happy buoyancy
of temperament."

"I did not think that he was at all a person
you would admire," said Cyrilla.

" And what sort of person did you think I should
admire?"

Cyrilla felt his piercing eyes were upon her. She
wished to name ZorndorfT, but feared not being able
to pronounce his name with sufficient indifference,
so she remained silent ; and, after waiting in vain
for an answer, he continued —

" Yes, Cyrilla ; I admire Rupert almost as
much as I do you. I never saw two people more
like in person, mind, and disposition, than you
are."

" Our relationship makes the resemblance very
natural," said Cyrilla, while she beckoned to Ru-
pert, who just then perceived her.

CYRILLA. 219

" The relationship might be nearer," began the
President.

" I wish it were," said Cyrilla.

" Well, that's candid," he rejoined, with a mixed
look of surprise and satisfaction.

" Good morning, dear Rupert ! " she cried, bound-
ing towards him, and placing her arm within his ,*
" I have just been saying how I wish you were my
brother."

" Humph ! " murmured the President, u that was
not at all what I meant."

They had all breakfasted, and Cyrilla was stand-
ing at the window, throwing crumbs of bread to the
birds assembled on the gravel beneath, when Zorn-
dorfF appeared.

" At last!" exclaimed the President, looking at
his watch, " and always the last."

" I suppose I remained too long in my bath,"
answered Zorndorff, as he seated himself at the de-
serted table.

u Yours was not like Rupert's, in the lake, I
suspect."

" Certainly not; for however the lake might tempt
me on a sultry afternoon, I greatly prefer warm or
at least tepid water in the morning, especially when
I can have it by walking but a few steps from my
dressing-room."

u I expect the carriage every moment," said the
President impatiently, as he looked out of the win-

220 CYRILLA.

dow, apparently a little provoked at his nephew's
dilatory manner of playing with his cup and spoon ;
" but, perhaps, you have no urgent business in
Exfort to-day?"

" I have most urgent, most important business,"
answered Zorndorff, rising without having helped
himself to any of the various things pushed towards
him by Eupert • " and the sooner we can be off the
better satisfied I shall be."

" Oh there is time enough for you to eat your
breakfast," said the President, softened by what he

supposed a deference to his wishes, " a time

for everything, you know."

" There may be time, but there is no inclination
in the present case... I cannot eat."

" But you are not ill, I hope, Edouard?"

" In the sense you mean, no ; but I have been
suffering mental tortures for some time past that
would deprive a more robust man than I am of all
appetite."

"Perhaps," said Rupert laughing, "Seltzer water
and Hochheimer would relieve your mental suffer-
ings, at least that is what our assistant surgeon
prescribes ; you remember Wickmann, he studied
with us at Jena?"

" He must be greatly changed if his prescrip-
tions are worth much," answered Zorndorff; " but
at all events I feel more inclined to consult a
homoeopath than any other on the present oeea-

CYRILLA. 221

sion." He turned to Cyrilla as lie spoke, totally
unconscious that Melanie had made all he had said
more intelligible to her than he perhaps would
have wished.

To his uncle his case had become as clear as if
it had been stated on parchment with all the formal
technicalities of what English lawyers call a brief,
and as his carriage rolled under the portico he pre-
pared to favour his nephew with an u opinion"

The pony-phaeton had been driven to the door at
the same time, and while ZorndorfT watched with
slightly contracted brows Cyrilla's childish eager-
ness to seize the reins, and Rupert's laughing
remonstrances at the experiments which she imme-
diately tried with them, his uncle laid his hand
heavily on his shoulder and whispered, " Come,
we have business to transact, and have no time for
such fooleries."

ZorndorfT turned away, and when seated by his
uncle listened with quiet attention to the above-
mentioned " opinion," which was given concisely
and clearly.

"I quite agree with you," he said in reply,
u and have little doubt that Mademoiselle d'Adler-
kron intends to marry her cousin Rupert, for, as
you justly observe, no two people can better suit
each other." After a pause he added, u I have
known many women more beautiful, much more

222 CYKILLA.

"beautiful than she is ; any one so perfectly accom-
plished, so fascinating, I never even imagined."

u Strong language, Edouard — Let me recom-
mend your not returning to Freilands."

" I had some such idea myself a few days ago ;
but, after all, I do not see why my probable marriage
to a very different sort of woman at some future
period should prevent me in the meantime from
enjoying the society of others, ay, and admiring
them too ! I find I can get over paroxysms of ad-
miration in a most satisfactory manner; for in-
stance, the other day at that ball or dejeuner, as I
looked at the Yicomtesse de Rubigny, I wondered
what on earth I had ever found to admire about
her ; it was certainly not her sallow complexion
or "

" No," said the President, interrupting him; "but
in that instance you must not forget that your
admiration was cooled by — scorn."

" Scorn?"

" Why, yes — she scorned, not you most prob-
ably but — your poverty ; and like a true Lindes-
mar, turned to Eupert as the hest parti to be had."

" And if the world may be believed," said Zorn-
dorff with a bitter smile, * she was in her turn
scorned by him in the most unceremonious manner
too, and was glad to take refuge with her French
relations and marry a worthless cousin, who little

CYK1LLA. 223

knew the way in which she had previously trifled
with her reputation."

" All this may be true,1' said the President,
" but is totally uninteresting to us. Let me advise
you to be satisfied with the really splendid posi-
tion offered you, and not to waste your time
longing for what is altogether out of your reach."

" You think that Mademoiselle d'Adlerkron
would also scorn a poor Kammer assessor?"

u I think she is too amiable and too gentle to
scorn any one ; but you are both poor, and "

" Excuse me for interrupting you," cried Zorn-
dorff eagerly, " but I really must ask you if you
have ever perceived anything in her manner to
make you think that "

" And do you excuse me," said his uncle severe-
ly, " for never having taken the trouble to make
any observations about what can in no way concern
either of us. This, however, I can tell you, that
Rupert does not scorn his cousin or she him ; and
that being the case, the best thing you can do is to
get over this paroxysm of admiration, as you call it,
with all convenient expedition, for as surely as he
deprived you of the bright glances of Virginie's
dark eyes, so surely will he obtain the still brighter
smiles of my fair sister-in-law."

ZorndorfF sank back in the corner of the carriage,
and when he spoke again it was on matters of

224 CYRILLA.

business, which made the President imagine that
his well meant advice had altogether turned the
current of his nephew's thoughts, and even led him
to hope that the affair was not so serious as he had at
first supposed. Of all men in the world a thorough-
bred bureaucratist is the most injudicious adviser
on an occasion of this kind ; such a man gives an
opinion of a case of love as he would of a case of
law, without taking the feelings of the parties con-
cerned in the least degree into consideration. The
President felt perfectly convinced that he had in a
dignified manner pronounced sentence of death on
his nephew's inclinations, quite unconscious that
the words he had last spoken had not only piqued
ZorndorfT's jealousy, but also turned his still
struggling ambition into a new channel — his pas-
sion for Cyrilla and wish to supersede Eupert, his
rival in childhood, boyhood, and manhood, became
identified ; and while listening with apparent in-
terest to his uncle as he expatiated on his proposed
reformations in different departments of his juris-
diction, he was in fact meditating on a complete
change of all his plans, and determining that no
obstacle should now induce him to waver in his
resolution — no sacrifice should be too great were
Cyrilla to be obtained by it.

CYRILLA. 225

CHAPTER XV.

As Rupert's leave of absence began to draw to a
close, the gaieties at Freilands increased ; one dinner
party succeeded another with so little intermission
that at length the Bellegardes and some others laugh-
ingly declared their intention of coming regularly
from Exfort every morning, and spending the day
there, and the plan was earned into execution,
Rupert merely stipulating that his drives with his
cousin in the pony-phaeton should not be interfered
with.

Cyrilla had long been conscious that she was un-
remittingly watched by Zorndorff ; and, though she
nearly guessed the reason, she made no effort to
contradict, by word or manner, what Melanie had
said of her. There was something too earnest in his
character to allow her to suppose that he would re-

L2

226 CYJRILLA.

main at Freilands without any fixed purpose, and
she therefore felt no uneasiness, and rather avoided
anything that might lead to an explanation, though
she had observed that from the time that the Belle-
gardes and their coterie had invaded the house,
he had scarcely spoken a word to her.

Melanie and her friends spent many hours every
day in the often-mentioned balcony, shaded from
the sun by an awning, the glass doors communicat-
ing with the reception-rooms, open and surrounded
by exotic shrubs and flowers, ever green, ever
fresh, a single drooping bough or a few withered
leaves causing their immediate removal to the con-
servatory whence they came, while others, healthier
and brighter, supplied their places, and administered
to the luxury of those who, spoiled by habit,
scarcely bestowed a glance on them, or were con-
scious of enjoyment, as they inhaled their perfume.

The weather had become sultry ; the few clouds
visible seemed at times almost stationary, and not
the faintest breath of wind was perceptible. All
walking or boating parties had been necessarily
deferred until late in the afternoon ; and, leisurely
sipping their coffee, the arrangements for them were
discussed in the low languid tones which suited the
half-reclining forms whence they proceeded. Ru-
pert had promised to show a hermitage which was
on one of the islands in the lake, to Madame de

CYRILLA. 227

Rubigny. Cyrilla had agreed to accompany them :
f That is," she added, " if you give me time to
write to mamma ; I want to tell her that the Presi-
dent has proposed my going with him and Melanie
to Aix-la-Chapeile."

" To Aix!" exclaimed Madame de Bellegarde.
" So, Melanie, you are going to Aix again?"

" Yes ; don't you envy me?"

" Cela depend ! Count Zomdorff of course goes
with you?"

" He may join us perhaps ," replied Me-
lanie, looking irresolutely towards Zorndorff, who
gave no sign either of assent or dissent.

" And we," cried Madame de Bellegarde, " have
nothing at all in prospect but a visit to grandpapa.
I am so sony you are going away — Exfort is so dull
without you but I shall be perfectly inconsol-
able when Freilands is shut up I wonder Ru-
pert does not leave the army, and live here altogether

so near the town, and everything one could

wish!"

" I have latterly been thinking a little on the
subject," said Rupert, who was displaying con-
siderable skill while playing with a cup and ball.

" Have you?" said Melanie, looking up with
some surprise, " I never could understand at all why
you became a soldier."

" It is easily told," answered Rupert. " I en-

228 CYRILLA.

tered the army to get away from my aunt — perhaps
too in order to have a right to wear a hussar's
uniform, to which I took a fancy at a review. I
have remained in it because it gives me occupation,
and I like my brother officers, and live in the hopes
of making a campaign or two before I a "

"Marry!" said Madame de Bellegarde, laugh-
ing ; "I wish you would do so soon, and settle
here : the idea that this is our last day at Freilands
is quite dreadful ! Must you leave to-morrow?"

" Yes ; but our regiment will probably be quar-
tered at Exfort in a year or two."

" A year or two ! Why, that's an eternity ! "

" To me also," said Melanie, " it appears a long-
time to wait before we are likely to have Rupert
with us again, and I confess "

" And I confess," said Cyrilla, as she rose to
leave them, u that I shall be veiy angry if I have
to wait two years before I see him again."

Rupert followed her, still playing with his cup
and ball, and said, in a voice only audible to her
and to ZorndorfT, who now stood at a window read-
ing a letter : " Cyrilla, you have only to say that
you wish me to leave the army, and I am ready to
do so, and give up for your sake all chance of a
campaign."

" All chance of being shot, you mean," said
Cyrilla, laughing.

CYRILLA. 229

" Perhaps so ; but as the sacrifice is greater than
you seem to imagine, I must tell you that I can
only do so on condition "

" 1 hate conditions," said Cyrilla, moving on.

" But you may as well listen to them "

" Impossible ! Why, have I not told you that
I must write to mamma about going to Aix, and
after that you are to row me in the boat, you know ;

and then but I really wish you would go out

with Madame de Rubigny, and return for me an
hour hence. Do you know that this Yirginie, about
whom you were in doubt whether she were a devil
or an angel, seems to have so little likeness to Satan,
that I begin to think you a hard-hearted, cruel
wretch to have remained insensible to "

" Cyrilla ! " cried Rupert reproachfully.

" Tell me the whole story, and I promise never
to tease you again," she continued; "but if you leave
me to compose a romance of my own about you, I
believe I must suppose that you preferred her sister
Julie taste is perverse sometimes ! "

"Do you really mean what you say?" asked
Rupert, with unusual seriousness.

"No, I don't," she answered, smiling merrily;
" for though I might have consented to your mar-
riage with Virginie, were she still unmarried, I
must tell you that I can never permit you to give

230 CYRILLA.

me such a cousin as Julie cle Lindesmar; and now
go away and let me write my letter."

He left her, and for nearly an hour silence reigned
in the room to which she had retired ; at the end of
that time the sound of voices and retreating footsteps
made her suppose that the balcony party had broken
up, and from the window she could see some saun-
tering groups moving down the lime-tree walk.
She folded and sealed her letter, and once more
looking out of the window, she perceived ZorndorfT
alone, walking backwards and forwards near the
house, — a black-edged, black-sealed letter, which
she had seen him receive some hours before, in his
hand. He read it again and again, and then walk-
ing a short distance down the alley, he threw himself
on one of the seats and covered his face with his hand.

There is nothing in this world which enhances
the value of any object we possess, or wish to pos-
sess, whether it be animate or inanimate, like the
fear of losing it for ever. This fear had now taken
possession ofZorndorfl's mind with regard toCyrilla.
He had overheard what Rupert had said to her,
— perceived with surprise that she was still quite
unconscious of her cousin's intentions, and imagined
that his last and only chance now was to speak
before his rival. Under the influence of one of
those ungovernable passions which make men for

CYRILLA. 231

the time regardless of obstacles, and careless of
the pain inflicted on others, he had latterly only
been deterred from doing so by uncertainty respect-
ing her feelings ; but even while half provoked at
linding so much self-possession in one so young
and child-like in appearance, he admired the very
quality which caused his perplexity. When he
saw her enter the alley on her way to her cousin,
his only thought was how to induce her to stop and
speak to him. The most natural thing he could
have done would have been to have accompanied
her to the lake. It never occurred to him, or he
might have asked her some question about Melanie
or the others who had not gone out. He never
thought of it ; so completely had his usual calm con-
sideration forsaken him, that she had actually passed
before he was able to exclaim, hurriedly, " Don't

go to him Pra7? don't go to him !"

u Not go to him, after he has waited so long for

me

v

u Waited ! oh no he has been to the island

with Madame de Rubigny, and has not yet returned

in her society he is not likely to take much

note of time."

Cyrilla stopped and smiled. " I should like,"
she said quietly, " I should like very much to know
what it is that people find so very fascinating in

232 CYRILLA.

Madame de Bubigny ; slie is interesting-looking,

certainly — in fact, handsome "

" No," said Zorndorff, " she is not at all hand-
] 7 3

some.'

"You say so," she rejoined, "because you hap-
pen not to be one of her admirers."

" I ivas one of them," said Zorndorff; and he ob-
served with pleasure that his companion turned
suddenly towards him with a look of inquiry and
attention, — "but," he added quickly, "not long."

" I heard she was very agreeable," said Cyrilla,

"and expected to find her more what shall I

say ? — more talkative."

" She never talked more than she does now in
general conversation," he replied ; " but in a tete-a-
tete she was, and is still most probably, what her
husband would call adorable. Her real or pretended
ingenuousness "

" Ingenuousness!" repeated Cyrilla, " and I have
never discovered a particle of anything resembling
it!"

"I believe," said Zorndorff, "you never have
seen what she can be ; she is one of those women

whose words and looks are reserved for our sex

Adlerkron could tell you enough about her if he
chose."

" But he does n't choose," said Cyrilla, seating

CYRILLA. 233

herself at the other end of the seat ; " and I feel a
great deal of natural curiosity on the subject. I
suspect she married M. de Rubigny without caring
much for him, and am almost sure she would have
preferred Rupert."

" No doubt of it," said Zorndorff, with a con-
temptuous smile ; " she almost lost her reputation

in her efforts to induce him to marry her but

whether actuated by love or interest is unknown ;
I suspect the latter."

" I do not know her well enough to undertake
her defence," said Cyrilla ; " but you must acknow-
ledge that Rupert might easily be loved for himself
alone."

" Not by a Lindesmar, believe me, Mademoiselle
d' Adlerkron, and I know them long and well j but
why blame them for acting as others do ? — others
from whom we might expect something quite dif-
ferent!"

Just then Cyrilla perceived in the distance Ru-
pert's boat. She rose, and waved her handker-
chief.

" Do not be in such a hurry, you see he is rest-
ing on his oars ; the boat is not moving — he — he
is not thinking of you — now."

Again Cyrilla waved her handkerchief, and the
boat shot forward in the direction of the landing-
place. She looked towards Zorndorff; he appeared

234 CYRILLA.

a good deal agitated, but the expression of his face
was incomprehensible to her, as one last violent
struggle between love and ambition, poverty and
wealth, passion and principle, took place in his
mind. He crushed, with both hands and uncon-
scious vehemence, the mourning letter, and its great
black seal, and as her eye fell on the latter, it sud-
denly occurred to her that he might have lost some
relation or friend. The letter had evidently con-
tained painful intelligence ; he was unhappy. A
woman's sympathy with domestic grief is as ready
as her feelings under such trials are acute. Cyrilla
turned back, and the look of kind unembarrassed
interest with which she again approached him, re-
newed all his doubts, and he scarcely listened to
what she said until, with some hesitation, she added,
" Though I can only speak at random, perhaps Me-
lanie could "

" Could what '?" he asked impatiently.

" Could offer you some consolation, if you were
to tell her the contents of that letter, which seems to
have affected you so painfully."

" Can Melanie control the inclinations of people
she has never seen ? Can she influence the affec-
tions of those nearest to her ?" he asked, and again
his head sunk on his hand, f-f Go, and leave me
more than ever a prey to the jealousy that has al-
readv almost tortured me to death."

CYRILLA. 235

" I I thought you had lost some friend," said

Cyrilla, glancing towards the letter ; " and you are
only jealous!"

" Only jealous ! " he repeated, looking up ; "but
do you know of whom ?"
Cyrilla shook her head.

" Of Adlerkron, who seems bom to cross my
purposes, mar my prospects, and destroy my only
chance of future happiness!"

" I do not comprehend," began Cyrilla, not a
thought of Rupert and herself combining them-
selves in her mind.

" And you do not know what I mean when I
say that I am jealous, — only jealous — but ve/-y
jealous ; " and Zorndorff raised his flashing eyes
to hers, just as Rupert, at the end of the alley,
raised a flag as signal of his arrival at the boat-
house.

She waved her handkerchief twice in answer, —
Zorndorff sprang from his seat, caught her hand as
it descended, and exclaimed with vehemence, —
u Can you not, or will you not, understand me? "

Impatiently releasing her hand, she cast a hur-
ried glance towards the windows of the house ; the
tacit reproach was felt ; he moved to the furthest
end of the seat murmuring some words of excuse ;
and such is the command of looks and gestures
acquired by constant intercourse with the world,

236 CYRILLA.

that these two persons, both in a state of violent
internal agitation, suddenly assumed an appear-
ance of calmness, almost indifference, so powerfully
had a few gay-coloured parasols protruding beyond
the balcony reminded them that they were acting
a scene in the drama of their lives, which, however
tragically it might affect them, would most as-
suredly be viewed as comedy by the laughter-lov-
ing unwished-for spectators above them.

At this moment a couple of Rupert's dogs, evi-
dently just escaped from confinement, came bound-
ing towards them, — never had these emblems of
fidelity appeared more opportunely. As Zorn-
dorff's hand apparently caressed the sleek head
of one of them, his jealousy, uncertainty, hope,
fear, and love, found words of potent eloquence ;
and Cyrilla, while gently restraining the wild
gambols of the other, very nearly concealed the
anxiety which oppressed her. When he paused
for an answer, and looked at her expectantly, she
bent her head over Carlo's so as to hide her deep
blushes from Zorndorff, as she faltered out hur-
riedly, but to his attentive ear quite distinctly, all
he most desired to hear. One furtive glance he
bestowed on the balcony, and then stood with his
hat slightly raised above his head as she walked
quickly down the avenue, followed by both dogs.
Had not Cyrilla been extremely preoccupied,

CYRILLA. 237

she would have immediately observed that Rupert
was remarkably grave and quiet, and Madame de
Rubigny even more taciturn than usual. A sign
from him made both dogs spring into the boat, and
crouch under the seats, — Cyrilla took the rudder in
silence, and not one word was spoken until they
reached the little wooden quay, where Rupert fast-
ened the boat : the Vicomtesse de Rubigny, with-
out looking up, declared her intention of remaining
in it. Cyrilla stepped on shore, and when out of
hearing observed : u You and Madame de Rubigny
seem to have been quarrelling."

u No ; but we have had a sort of explanation."

u The same, perhaps, with which you uninten-
tionally favoured me when we met at Berlin."

a Very nearly. What a provoking memory you
have ! another would have forgotten all about it by
this time."

0 I have heard enough since from others to make
me remember, — they say she married M. de Ru-
bigny without caring in the least for him."

" So she told me just now."

"Told you?"

u Yes ; but you need not look so shocked. If
other people told you, why should not she tell
me f

" For a great many reasons ; and though not

238 cniiLLA.

exactly shocked, I confess I am rather surprised at
her telling you what I, your cousin, would not tell
you in her place."

u Though you are my cousin, Cyrilla, we have
been nearly strangers to each other until the last
two months, — with Virginie I have been intimate
all my life."

" I was not aware of that," said Cyrilla, thought-
fully.

u Since my earliest childhood I have known the
Lindesmars, and frequented their house ; their
brother Victor was my friend and schoolfellow
until he went to his uncle in France, when I
some way seemed to take his place in his family ;
and all the follies of Adrienne de Bellegarde, all
the devilry of Julie de Lindesmar, are as well
known to me as if they had been really my sisters.
Virginie, about my own age, and more my com-
panion than any of them, I never could quite un-
derstand ; but I believe her to be infinitely superior
to the others in every respect."

" I suppose she told you that it was the letter
you wrote at her mother's request which induced
her to marry the Vicomte ? "

" Something to that effect, and the idea is not
agreeable."

u I cannot at all understand a woman marrying

CYRILLA. §89

from pique," said Cyrilla, " and yet one hears of
it so often. Nothing would induce me to marry a
man I did not love."

" It is hard to say how one would act until the
day of trial comes," answered Rupert; "however,
you are never likely to be tried as poor dear Vir-
ginie has been."

"But," said Cyrilla, "would it not have been
better for her to have waited for a year or two, and
at the end of that time she might have found some
one she could like quite as well as you? "

" Unfortunately," replied Rupert, slightly shrug-
ging his shoulders, " she will not believe in the
possibility of a second love : — you do, it seems."

Cyrilla did not answer.

" You do not like the question when put directly
to yourself," said Rupert, laughing.

" I rather wish to avoid discussions of this
kind," said Cyrilla slowly, " as I don't like talking
about what I do not understand."

" You understand as much about the matter as I
do, perhaps ; an interchange of thoughts might
between us be as profitable as — as — amusing."

" Well, then," began Cyrilla, " I can imagine a
man loving several times "

" So can I," said Rupert, " in fact continually,
until — until — he is married, when, of course, he
comes to a full stop either from choice or necessity."

240 CYRILLA.

Cyrilla looked up inquiringly.

" Why, you know, either he likes his wife too
well to think of any other woman, or, what nearly
comes to the same thing, other women cease to
think of him because he has got a wife."

Cyrilla smiled.

" And now tell me, can you imagine a woman
loving several times? "

" Don't ask me."

" But I must — that is what I most want to
know."

" One hears and reads of such things," began
Cyrilla.

" I don't want to know what one hears of or
reads, I wish to know what you think possible or
probable."

" So much," replied Cyrilla, " depends upon
circumstances over which we have no control."

" Agreed," cried Rupert; " but you are giving
your opinion so unwillingly, that you must allow
me to suppose some of these circumstances. Sup-
pose, for instance, a woman's love were slighted? "

" In that case, she should conceal and conquer
it," answered Cyrilla quickly.

" And love again?"

" It is to be hoped so."

" And were the person loved unworthy of re-
gard "

CYRILLA. 241

" Fortunately," said Cyrilla laughing, u a wo-
man's imagination, in such cases, supplies all defi-
ciencies, and nothing but facts, plain downright
facts, can ever convince her of what she must be so
unwilling to believe."

tl Then," cried Rupert, with heightened colour,
" then let us leave nothing to the imagination, but
suppose at once, that a man returns a woman's love
— gives her his heart because he cannot help him-
self, but from egotistical interested motives bestows
his hand on another — what then? "

u Egotistical interested motives," repeated Cy-
rilla, " there may be some who could pardon — and
excuse even that — I could not. I should despise —
I am afraid almost hate — but why do we talk of
such disagreeable things, and you really look as if
you were quite in earnest. Ah, there's the new
arbour — how pretty ! but it will require at least two
years before the creepers have covered the top of it.
I suppose," she added, gaily, u I suppose it was here
you waited for me with Madame de Rubigny, and
it was here she filled your head with all those dread-
ful thoughts about slighted love and desertion? "

" Exactly; she prophesied me all the horrors of
being slighted."

" I don't think you have much to fear on that
score," said Cyrilla; u the President gave Melanie
to understand, that your too great succes aupres dvs

VOL. I. M

242 CYRILLA.

dames had caused our uncle Gottfried great uneasi-
ness."

" Pshaw — nonsense."

u Don't break off the branches of that honey-
suckle," she cried, pushing his hand away from
the plant; " the whole summer will not repair the
mischief you have done. Next year when you
return here, this jessamine will be at least as tall
as I am ! "

" Perhaps so," he replied absently.

And they walked on silently, until between the
trees he caught a glimpse of the boat and Madame
de Eubigny reclining listlessly in the stern. " She
has a great deal of observation, and may be right,"
he observed.

" Who ? " asked Cyrilla, looking up with a
puzzled air; her thoughts (and unrequited love
was not among them) had wandered from the
island — " Whom do you mean ? "

" Virginie."

" I daresay she has a good deal of observation,"
said Cyrilla, making an effort to be interested in
what seemed to have in some way taken possession
of her cousin's mind; " most intelligent people who
are silent in company, are observant of all that is
going on about them."

" Then," rejoined Rupert, " perhaps a remark
of hers may interest you."

CYRILLA. 243

" Perhaps it may ; let me hear it.'*

" She has discovered that ZorndorfY is irretrieva-
bly in love with you."

"Has she?" said Cyrilla, stooping to gather
some flowers ; u and do you know what I have
discovered?"

" The same thing, perhaps/' said Kupert.

" No," replied Cyrilla, laughing, " I think it
better to wait until I am told such things; but," she
added in a whisper, as they approached the quay,
u it has become evident to me that she is annoyed
at our liking each other so much ! "

" And do you like me? "

u Dearest Rupert, can you doubt it?" cried
Cyrilla, as she lightly leaned on his arm and
sprang into the boat.

The sultry day closed with a sunset of unusual
brilliancy, and the last yellow rays played gaily on
the bright summer dresses of the loungers on the
balcony, as they watched the changing form of the
gold-coloured clouds, and unreservedly regretted
their approaching separation. Without exactly
caring much for each other, their education, habits,
and manners, were so similar, their position in the
world so much the same, and they were in their
determination to rule the society of Exfort so
united, that all petty jealousies had ceased. They
knew and laughed at each other's foibles without

244 CYRILLA.

hesitation, and were so very unreserved in their
remarks and raillery, that Cyrilla, whose acquaint-
ance with them was of recent date, not unfrequently
experienced a confused feeling of apprehension, and
dreaded nothing so much as becoming, if only for
a day, the subject of their mirth. It had been this
fear which had given her strength that morning to
listen, apparently unmoved, to words of incalculable
importance and interest, and had enabled her to
answer them, and stake her life's happiness, without
daring to bestow one glance on the man in whose
hands she had resolved unreservedly to place it;
and it was the same motive which now induced
her, not only to listen, but to join in the desultory
conversation which was carried on, though she
longed to take refuge in her room to think over the
momentous words she had spoken — the promise
she had made without one thought of her mother,
— that mother whose idol she had been all her life,
and who, she more than suspected, would disap-
prove of an engagement that must necessarily be of
some years' continuance, and the termination of
which would be at best so far beneath her often
expressed hopes and expectations. It was, there-
fore, with unmixed feelings of satisfaction, that
Cyrilla saw the different carriages drive up before
the house, and from the balcony watched the
departures. As the last disappeared behind the

CYRILLA. 245

trees, and Rupert, having completed his cheerful
adieuXj turned into the house, Zorndorff approached
her and said, " I intend to return home this even-
ing, to — to write — some letters "

" And I," answered Cyrilla, " must also write
— to my mother."

" Not until we have spoken — that is, consulted
Melanie," he said eagerly; " to-morrow we shall
meet without the restraint which has latterly been
so intolerable to me." After a moment's pause
and hesitation, he added, " I am sorry to be
obliged to request you to let our engagement re-
main a secret for the present — it is absolutely
necessary — unavoidable for some time at least;"
and then, without waiting for an answer, he fer-
vently but hastily pressed her hand to his lips, and
tinned to meet Rupert, whose voice he heard in
the adjoining room. " Adieu, Adlerkron," he
began, " we shall not meet again for some time,
and therefore "

"And therefore," cried Rupert, interrupting
him, " you think it incumbent on you to leave me
twelve hours sooner than is necessary! Come — be
sociable for once in your life, and remain here un-
til after breakfast to-morrow."

" I cannot," replied Zorndorff; "there is a let-
ter which must be sent to the post to-night "

u Write here," cried Rupert, " and send an ex-
press into Exfort."

246 CYKILLA

" The letter," said Zorndorff, unwillingly ; but,
as if he thought it necessary to excuse himself in

someway, "the letter is already written, and

only requires date and seal but it is in my

writing-desk at home, and I "

" A letter written and put aside for considera-
tion!" said Rupert. "That sounds mysterious,
but will scarcely justify your abrupt departure,
after having so far fulfilled your destiny as to re-
main here during the "

"Fulfilled my destiny! What do you mean?"

" Come, don't pretend to have forgotten the time
you had your planet ruled, or whatever the proper
expression may be for having one's fortune told by
the stars, instead of with a pack of cards ! You
look now as if you would rather you had not told
me."

" 0 not at all," said Zorndorff; " but I am ra-
ther surprised at your remembering what I had
altogether forgotten."

"What!" exclaimed Rupert, "have you for-
gotten that you are to be married twice ? and that
the year of the two 3's is to be one of danger to us
both?"

" Nonsense," said Zorndorff, turning away, while
a fearful paleness overspread his features, and even
his lips were white when he spoke to his aunt.

" Edouard, you must tell me about this," she
whispered, " some day when we are alone."

CYRILLA. 247

" I cannot remember — it is too long ago," he
answered impatiently.

" He is ashamed of believing such things," con-
tinued Rupert, laughing ; then, suddenly perceiv-
ing that Zorndorff looked annoyed, he added:
"Yet greater men than he is have been credu-
lous— actually and deliberately working out the
predictions made them. Wallenstein, Duke of
Friedland, for instance, whose astrologer was no
less a person than Kepler himself! And then
Napoleon, who, they say, not unfrequently con-
sulted the famous Lenormaud."

u I could tell you a curious thing about that
Mademoiselle Lenormaud," began Melanie ; but
Zorndorff hastily took leave, and though Eupert
professed the greatest curiosity about it, she per-
sisted in saying that " there was no use in telling
him anything of that kind."

" Then," said Rupert, leaning over the back of
her chair, and lowering his voice, so that his words
were inaudible to the President ; " then let me tell
you something of another kind : — I — should — like
to many — Cyrilla."

"What!" cried Melanie, looking at him in-
credulously ; ff you don't mean to insinuate that
you think seriously of marriage?"

u I don't insinuate, but say plainly, that I wish
to marry Cyrilla, if she will consent. However, as

248 CYRTLLA.

I don't want to take her by surprise, and have rea-
son to suppose that she has never thought about
me in that way, you had better talk to her to-
night, and before morning she can make up her
mind one way or other."

aOh !" cried Melanie, " I am afraid that is,

she oh, why did you not speak sooner?"

" Why, you know, or rather, perhaps, you do
not know, that I had determined not to marry her,
or indeed any one else, for ten years at least ; and
though I liked her from the first, it is only about a
week ago that I discovered how much, and all that
sort of thing ; and now I wish I could carry her off
at once, without any unnecessary talk or ceremony,
for I don't at all like the idea of a separation."

Melanie gazed fixedly on the ground, and spoke
not a word.

"Well," he added, after a moment's pause,
" can you not say something — say, at least, that
you approve — that you wish "

" I wish," said Melanie, " I wish you had not
remained so long in Berlin — I wish you had acted
differently during the week we were there — I wish
you had shown a little more empressement in the
first instance "

" Never mind that now," cried Eupert, impa-
tiently ; " Cyrilla has long forgotten it, and is such
a dear little rational creature, that I have great

CYRILLA. 249

hopes she may discover she could not do better
than take me, and have her own way all the rest of
her life."

" It would be, in every respect, a most rational
sort of marriage,'' began Melanie, slowly ; " and,"
she added, musingly, " and one that most proba-
bly my aunt, and most certainly my stepmother,
would approve."

"Olam quite aware of that," said Rupert. " I
have abeady had more than one letter from my
aunt, almost commanding me to make this pro-
posal. If I had not admired Cyrilla immensely,
such communications would have been sufficient to
have made me avoid her altogether. I don't like
to have a wife forced upon me ; but, in this in-
stance, I am disposed to overlook the circumstance
and submit to my aunt's consent, if I can only ob-
tain Cyrilla's."

" I shall speak to her to-night," said Melanie.
" You are right to give her time to think ; in fact,
you might give her more time, for your love is, of
course, merely that sort of quiet regard which per-
sons devoid of sentiment usually experience."

" You need not analyze my love," said Rupert,
" though, perhaps, it woidd bear the process quite

as well as other people's; but tell Cyrilla of it

and if she wish for time to consider, why

I can wait a day or two anything reasonable;

m 2

250 CYKILLA.

but the sooner she can make up her mind the bet-
ter, as the affair could be got up without any delay
or difficulty, and I think we suit each other re-
markably well ! "

Melanie longed to contradict the last assertion,
but she forbore. Fully aware of the advantages of
such a marriage for her sister, and quite disposed
to do justice to Rupert's many good qualities, she
considered acquiescence on her part a duty ; but
Zorndorff appeared to her so eminently attractive —
so infinitely superior to her cousin and all other
men, that she scarcely for a moment doubted what
Cyrilla's decision would be. The few hesitating
words of worldly wisdom with which she that
night thought it necessary to accompany her com-
munication, was heard by her astonished sister
with such indignation, and answered so quickly by
apt quotations from her own speeches, that Melanie
was instantly and effectually silenced. When af-
terwards informed of the explanation that had al-
ready taken place between Cyrilla and Zorndorff,
she became, and acknowledged herself from that
time forward, her nephew's warmest advocate, hop-
ing, as she magnanimously declared to her sister,
that she should be able to procure for her that do-
mestic happiness, of which she had herself been so
cruelly deprived !

GYEILLA. 251

CHAPTER XVI.

The supposition that decision of mind and firmness
of purpose must necessarily be appropriately em-
bodied, is by no means uncommon ; yet very cur-
sory observation will lead to the discovery that the
person and features do not always represent these
(qualities, even when inherent in no common degree,
— that mild, gentlemanly men can be uncommonly
obstinate, and gentle, delicate women scarcely less
so ; and we may, without hesitation, use this odious
word to such persons, as however the hard-featured
and inflexible -looking may dare to brave their
friends, those whose appearance leads to the sup-
position of pliancy are invariably termed obstinate
when they assert or act upon an opinion of their
own. Cyrilla may therefore be called obstinate ;
and it must be confessed that her short decided
answers to her sister, and impatient, passionate

252 CYRILLA

exclamations, seemed ill to suit the fragile form and
youthful face of the speaker; yet, although she
continued firm, unshaken even for a moment, it ap-
peared at least more natural when, at the end of
their conference, she burst into tears, and declared her
unalterable resolution to keep her engagement with
ZorndorfT, even if it should last for twenty years !

The next morning, Rupert followed her to the
drawing-room, and waited patiently while she col-
lected her scattered sketches and drawing materials,
her maid following her round the room with a port-
folio, endeavouring to understand some confused
directions about how the pencil-drawings were to
be laid that they might not be rubbed. A few
books which Rupert had given her she also took up
in a hurried manner, and then showed a very evi-
dent intention of making her escape altogether.
But she was recalled by him ; and, half laughingly,
half seriously, requested to resign herself to the
horrors of a tete-a-tete, which, he assured her, was
now quite inevitable.

u O, I have not the least objection to a tete-a-tete
with you, if — if — "

" If I were going to talk nonsense as usual, " said
Rupert, smiling ; " but this time you must listen
to the words of wisdom, strange as they will sound
to you, coming from my lips. Melanie has, of
course, told you "

CYRILLA. 253

" Oh ! Rupert, dear Eupert, don't talk about
that ; pray, don't. Remember all you said to me
yourself the first time we met at Exfort ! "

" I don't remember what I said, but I daresay it
was something very different from what I want to
say now."

" Perhaps so ; but I remember perfectly your

very words — words of wisdom they were You

said that you had a sort of moral antipathy to the
idea of cousins being anything to each other but
cousins ; that you would as soon think of marrying
your grandmother, if you had one, as a cousin ; and
that you could almost hate our aunt for having cast
a shadow over the commencement of our intercourse
by her absurd and most improper proposition ! "

" I talked a precious lot of nonsense that day,"
said Eupert, gravely.

u But after saying all this to me," continued Cy-
rilla, quite aware of the advantage she had over
him, u after saying all this, how could you expect
me to to think of what you now propose?"

" Very true," said Eupert, still more gravely, u I
was, and am, a fool ; that is evident."

•• No," cried Cyrilla eagerly, and mistaking his
quiet manner for resignation or indifference ; " no,
you are my dear, kind cousin, Eupert ; and, believe
me, no cousin could like another better than I do
you."

254 CYRILLA.

" Indeed !" said Rupert, looking at her inquiringly ;
" then I will wait until you have learned to like me
better. You shall have weeks, months, a whole
year if you require it ! I promise to quit the army,
too, and live here. You like Freilands, don't you?"
" O, so much ! " answered Cyrilla ; " the six
weeks that I have spent here have been the happiest
of my whole life !"

" And mine, too !" said Rupert ; " and I do not
see why we should not go on being happy, when
there is nothing in the world to prevent it,"

" If we could only live on just as we have done
lately!" began Cyrilla, with a sigh.

" That will scarcely be possible," said Rupert;
" for the President would never consent to reside

altogether with me, in order that " here he burst

into a merry laugh, and then added, " You must
perceive, dear Cyrilla, that nothing but a marriage
can enable us to live on together here ; and, there-
fore "

" I am sorry for it," said Cyrilla, interrupting
him hastily ; " but you must not speak any more
about that — at least to me."

" And to whom else ? " asked Rupert.
u Any one you please. I am not so vain as to
expect, not so selfish as to wish, that you should
not find some one more worthy of your affection
than I am."

CYRILLA. 255

"And I," said Rupert, 'with imperturbable good-
humour, " I have the vanity to think that we suit
each other perfectly, and am selfish enough to hope
that you may twt find any one more worthy of your
affection than I am."

Cyrilla blushed, and walked to one of the win-
dows, while he continued : "It is not my nature
to be jealous, or I might perhaps have suspected a
rival in Zomdorff ; but from him I have nothing to
fear. "With his luxurious inclinations and ambitious
plans, even you — even an angel from heaven — could
not move him, if not possessed of wealth ! "

" There are some passions stronger than ambi-
tion or the love of wealth," suggested Cyrilla, in a
low voice.

" Not with him. Besides, I have heard it said
that he has only to stretch out his hand to find that
of one of the richest heiresses in Germany placed
joyfully in his."

" I think you must be mistaken ; he never made
the most distant allusion to anything of the kind."

"I should have been surprised if he had," said
Rupert ; " excepting, perhaps, to Melanie."

Cyrilla became very pale, and sat down on the
nearest chair, looking up as if she expected to hear
more.

" It may be nothing but a report," continued
Rupert, " but I have heard it repeatedly, and

256 CYRILLA.

should have mentioned it had I thought it neces-
sary— hitherto I have had no motive — you have
so invariably given me the preference whenever we
came in competition, that I was vain enough to
imagine you liked me better than him. It was
too much to expect you, at your age, to be in-
sensible to such extraordinary personal advantages
as his !" This was said half interrogatively; but,
as he received no answer, he added, " You think
him very handsome of course ?"

" I think beauty of very little importance for a
man," she answered evasively.

"lam glad to hear you say so, Cyrilla — Zorn-
dorff, too, despises beauty in his own sex, and has
often told me that he would willingly submit to be
metamorphosed into the ugliest fellow that ever
existed, provided wealth were bestowed on him."

" I never heard him express an opinion of that
kind," began Cyrilla, with a look of anxiety.

" Very likely," said Rupert; " I dare say there
are many of his opinions with which he has thought
it unnecessary to make you acquainted — and it is
quite as well that it is so."

" Rupert — you don't like him, that is evident."

" I always thought I did, until to-day," he
answered candidly ; " but without apprehending
that I have any just cause for jealousy, I now feel
disposed to point out his faults to you, because I

CYRILLA. 257

am conscious that I must lately have appeared to
great disadvantage by a comparison with him !"

" I don't know that," said Cyrilla thoughtfully.
" The President says that a contrast with you
makes his nephew appear a perfect egotist ; and
though Melanie thinks that in your place and with
your means he would be equally generous "

" Don't call me generous — I have never made
an effort to be so more than two or three times in
all my life."

Cyrilla looked surprised.

" My idea of generosity/' said Bupert, " is not
giving of one's abundance — that is not only a
Christian duty but a debt of gratitude for having
much to bestow ; the pleasure of giving, too, is a
reward, if one be necessary; but doing without
something oneself in order to give to another is
generosity ; and yet," he added musingly, " that
repays itself too — sometimes — often."

" And when were you lately generous according
to your ideas?" asked Cyrilla with some curiosity.

" I see you want to make me forget the important
subject we were discussing," said Rupert smiling;
" but you must let me return to where we started,
and ask you if my being your cousin is the only
reason you have for rejecting me?"

" Have you not told me yourself," said Cyrilla,
" that you considered it an all-sufficient one ?"

258 CYR1LLA.

" But I have ceased to think it any reason what-
ever ; and you must forgive my offering you some
advice on this occasion."

" Well, what is it? " asked Cyrilla, rather pettishly.

" That you take time to consider before you

refuse my proposal. You say you like me, and in

that case I think you ought to consult your mother

— your sister — and "

" No, Rupert — on this subject, and on this one
alone, I think myself a better judge than my
mother, sister, or any one in the world could be
for me."

" Eemember, Cyrilla, how very young you are ! "

" I am old enough," she said, rising, u quite

old enough to know the difference between the

intimate friendship that I feel for you and

love when put to the proof."

" Stay, Cyrilla," cried Kupert, catching her hand
as she passed him ; " stay — your words alarm me

not so much for myself as for you. Yirginie

was right after all — she told me you did not care
for me, and that you loved ZomdorrT. I did not,
would not believe her, but I fear it is so. Oh, my
dear cousin, listen to me for one moment ; forget
all I have said about myself, and do not misunder-
stand my motives, when I warn you not to place
your happiness in his keeping."

" You suppose he may really have thought of

CYRILLA. 259

marrying some one in Berlin?" said Cyrilla, try-
ing to smile, while her lips quivered.

" People said so — it may be true, or it may not
— in either case, Cyrilla, avoid him, or you will be
a most unhappy woman !"

" How strongly prejudiced you are against him! "
she exclaimed reproachfully.

u I can say nothing now that will not appear so
to you," rejoined Rupert. u It grieves me to think
that you will throw away your love, and waste the
best years of your life on a man who, however much
his selfish passion may lead him to monopolize you
now, will end by marrying another. You will
never be his wife ! "

" Nor yours either," said Cyrilla, with some irri-
tation ; " so let us talk no more on this disagreeable
subject."

u There is still one thing which I believe I ought
to say to you," began Rupert, and then he stopped
and hesitated.

" Well," she said, turning round with ill-con-
cealed impatience, " what is it ?"

ff You had better not — tell my aunt that you
refused to listen to my "

" O, you need be under no apprehension on that
score," said Cyrilla, with a slightly satirical smile,
u I am aware how sensitive men are on such occa-
sions, and promise you "

u Promise me nothing," he cried, interrupting

260 CYRILLA.

her, while a flush of anger passed across his face.
" Promise me nothing ; I spoke for your advantage
and thought not at all of myself. If I am what
you call sensitive, it is only to the very unkind
construction you give to all my words. As far as
I am concerned the whole world may know that I
love you. I do so too sincerely not to hope that
you may never feel the pain you have now inflicted
on me."

He left the room as he spoke, and she stood for
some minutes completely overcome by a succession
of the most contending and afflicting emotions. A
sense of having treated her cousin unkindly re-
mained uppermost in her mind ; and after walking
irresolutely up and down the room for a few
minutes she slowly followed him, looked timidly
at the door of his study for some time before she
ventured to pronounce his name, and then, receiv-
ing no answer, she turned away, and through one
of the windows caught a glimpse of him as he
strode quickly down the lime-tree walk surrounded
by his dogs. " He is too good-natured to be angry,
and too light-hearted to be unhappy," was her
thought as she descended the stairs to her sister's
dressing-room.

Melanie was as usual lingering over her late
breakfast ; she was also composing poetry ; her lips
were parted, her eyes turned to the ceiling, while
the fingers of her left hand moving as if on the

CYRILLA. 261

keys of a pianoforte formed the metronome of her
thoughts.

' * l Lines on leaving Freilands, for Bnpert. ' Shall
I read them to you, Cyrilla?" she asked, not in
the least observing the anxious expression of her
sister's features.

" Not just now. I must ask you a question.
Tell me, Melanie, did you ever hear of Count Zorn-
dorfFs being supposed to be engaged to any one

I mean to a very rich heiress?"

" Never," replied Melanie, with a look of such
unfeigned surprise, that Cyrilla felt at once reas-
sured. She took a long breath and sat down.

" Did Kupert tell you this ?" asked Melanie after
a pause.

" Yes ; but as a report for the truth of which he
could not vouch. He seemed to think you must
have heard of it."

" And so I should — if not from others, from
Edouard himself, for his confidence in me is, I be-
lieve, unlimited. It is, however, possible that some
heiress may have imagined that he was paying her
attention, and people may have talked about it be-
cause she was an heiress ; but for my part I am
convinced of the truth of his assertion that you are
the only woman he has ever really loved in all his
liic."

u I cannot bear for a moment to suspect him of

262 CYPJLLA.

anything dishonourable," said Cyrilla, in a falter-
ing voice ; " but oh, Melanie, why did he recom-
mend, almost insist on secrecy ? Surely he cannot
expect me not to tell my mother?"

" Of course not ; but it will be time enough when
you see her, I should think ; and why provoke the
opposition of your aunt when you are aware of the
enmity that exists between her and Edouard's
father, and can easily imagine how angry she will
be ? In fact, if you could make up your mind not
to tell any one until Edouard was promoted to some
higher situation, it would be better for all parties."

" Nothing in the world I dread so much as hav-
ing anything to conceal from my mother," observed
Cyrilla, despondingly.

" And yet," said Melanie, " I must say she is
the very last person I could ever wish to confide in
— she is too clever, too decided, and much too
worldly to be consulted on an occasion of this kind.
From her you have nothing to expect but commands
to marry Rupert, and orders to return home imme-
diately, in disgrace with all your family. I can
never forget the cold irony with which she treated
my love for Englmann — the unfeeling manner in
which she required the mutual resignation of all
our love-tokens ; but," she added, with a smile of
satisfaction — " but when I saw that Valentin only
returned the half of the lock of hair I had given

CYRILLA. 2G3

him, I retained this little ugly ring, which never has
and never shall leave my finger."

" I should not have retained the ring," said
Cyrilla ; " but if the President had no objection, of
course no one else can."

" I never asked Wilhelm. I would not name
such a thing to him, even now, for any considera-
tion : besides, he was jealous at first; and never shall
I forget his rage on finding me looking over some
poems which I had written before I ever saw him.
He would not listen to my explanations, dashed my
little casket to atoms, and tore the papers to pieces."

" Is it possible that the President can be in a
passion?" asked Cyrilla.

u I only saw him in one — that once — but the con-
trast to his usually cold satirical manner was so
great, that, though surprised and shocked at his
violence, I never felt anything so nearly like love
for him as at that moment, and think if he had
gone on being jealous and furious, I should have
liked him at last ; but," she continued, with a sigh,
" he would not be jealous any more, and I had not
courage to tell him that Valentin alone possessed
my heart and occupied my thoughts !"

" Cyrilla did not seem to hear. She was look-
ing at the watch on the toilet. " Don't you think,"
she observed, after a few minutes' silence, during
which Melanie finished the composition of the

264 CYRILLA.

" Lines on leaving Freilands" — u Don't you think
you could be ready to go to Exfort in an hour ? I
wish so much to see Count ZorndorfF again, and
put an end to my present state of uncertainty."

An unusual stillness pervaded the whole house,
and especially the hitherto so gay reception-rooms,
as Cyrilla and her sister stepped for the last time
into the balcony, and looking round them saw
Rupert sauntering homewards. He quickened his
steps when he observed Melanie's carriage before
the house, and the impatient horses compelling the
coachman to make frequent circuits of the gravelled
space before the entrance.

" My dear Rupert," she said, when he joined
them, " you look so serious that I could almost
fancy you were as sorry to lose us as we to lose you. "

" You know I am more so, Melanie ; but I have
no intention of sinking under my disappointment,
or yielding to useless regrets. I shall make the
most violent exertions to forget the last six weeks ;
and by the time we meet again I shall be nearly as
jolly as ever."

There was such an ill-concealed effort at cheer-
fulness in his manner, that Cyrilla, half beseech-
ingly, held out her hand and said: " You are

not angry with me, Rupert?"

" Heaven forbid that I should be so unreason-
able," he replied quickly. " Experience has taught

CYKILLA. 265

me that the affections cannot be controlled. I see,"
he added, turning to Melanie, " that you have
written a ' farewell,' and only hope it is not an af-
fecting one, for I don't think I could stand anything
lachrymose just now."

" Lines on leaving a place where we have been
happy, and saying farewell to one we love, without
knowing when we may meet again, can scarcely be
gay," answered Melanie ; and half exulting in the
thought of moving her hearers, she began in a low
monotonous voice to recite them.

Music has been called the " poetry of the air."
May not poetry be supposed the music of the mind ?
Melanie's manner of reading was so insipid, and
produced a discordance so disagreeable to Cyrilla's
feelings, that she at length interrupted her by say-
ing : " No one should ever read their own composi-
tions. You are not doing justice to your poem,
Melanie : give it to me."

For a moment her eye ran quickly over the
paper, and then with inexpressible grace and a cor-
rectness of emphasis, pauses, and tones that evinced
both study and practice, she read the lines, awaken-
ing, in a most extraordinary degree, the sympathy
of both her companions.

" You clever creature !" exclaimed Rupert, when
she had ceased ; " every day brings some new talent
to light."

VOL. I. N

266 CYRILLA.

" That is not a talent," said Cyrilla; " it is an
accomplishment requiring as much practice and in-
struction as any other."

" Cyrilla, you have now quite convinced me,"
said Melanie, " that for a woman a careful education
is more desirable than talent and accomplishments
— greatly preferable to genius."

" Perhaps so," said Cyrilla ; " we can talk about
that some other time ; but let us now take leave of
Rupert, and go home. If parting be half as dis-
agreeable to him as it is to me, he will wish it
over."

" What I most wish," said Rupert quietly, " is,
that a time may come when you will feel for me
the affection which you now so unreservedly ex-
press."

" And you do not believe me!" said Cyrilla re-
proachfully.

" I believe you think yourself sincere ; and I am
sure you like me as well as you do half-a-dozen
other men who do not care about the matter. Un-
less something quite unforeseen should occur, we
shall not meet for a long time, Cyrilla, — not, per-
haps, until you have learned to think differently of
me, and of others too."

Neither Cyrilla nor Melanie wished to pursue the
subject further ; they left the balcony, followed by
Rupert, and parted with a forced gaiety of which

CYRILLA. 267

they were all quite conscious, but which they sup-
posed it necessary to assume before their servants.
The higher the rank, the more frequently occasions
present themselves for acting a part — most often of
all, in palaces.

268

CYEILLA.

CHAPTER XVII.

The fear of being overheard or interrupted by the
President induced Melanie to summon her nephew
to her boudoir directly she heard of his arrival at
her house. He entered the room with an appear-
ance of such joyous expectation, and advanced to-
wards them so eagerly, that she half turned to
Cyrilla, who leaned on the back of her chair, and
exclaimed, " O ! can you suspect or doubt, when
he looks as he does now?"

" Suspect ! — doubt !" repeated Zorndorff, turning
from one to the other, while a shade of displeasure
began to darken his handsome features.

u Tell him what I have heard, Melanie," whis-
pered Cyrilla, timidly.

u We have been told," began Melanie, with some
reluctance, "that there was some one of large

CYPJLLA. 269

fortune to whom you were generally supposed

to be engaged."

"Rupert your informant, of course; but I can
forgive his saying anything in the first burst of an-
noyance at the only disappointment he has ever met
with in his life."

" I knew," cried Melanie triumphantly, " I knew
it was a mere report ; perhaps without the slightest
foundation?"

Cyrilla looked up anxiously.

Zomdorff hesitated a moment, and then replied
" N — o ; not altogether without foundation."

" If," said Cyrilla, hurriedly, " if an engagement
exist tell me so at once."

" And then " said Zorndorff, quickly, " and

then?"

" And then, let ours be at an end."

" Perhaps you wish it to be so," he said,
haughtily ; " and in that case no explanation is ne-
cessary."

" Edouard," cried Melanie, reproachfully, " this
is not the manner in which you ought to speak to
Cyrilla. Do not force her to repent a promise
which she made with such unreserved confidence ;
what she desires to know is reasonable, and you are
bound to answer her."

" You are right," said Zorndorff; " and after all
there is little to relate. Young men generally be-

270 CYKILLA.

come acquainted, often intimate, with the sisters of
their friends; and I formed no exception to the
rule."

" Then the person to whom Rupert referred was
the sister of a friend?"

"Yes; the daughter of a banker, with the pros-
pect of an unusually large fortune, and surrounded
by applicants for her favour."

" So, it was a serious affair, after all ?"

" The world said so, and my father ardently de-
sired the connexion, as what I most wanted,

wealth, was to be obtained by it; but " he

stopped and bit his lip.

" But what ?" cried Melanie, impatiently. " Do
you mean to say that she refused you?"

"N— o."

u Her father refused his consent, perhaps ?"

" No."

" Then you refused yours," said Melanie, smil-
ing.

Zorndorff was silent ; he took up a book from the
table, turned over the leaves, and showed most evi-
dently that he wished to end the conversation.

Cyrilla was too deeply interested to observe this,
and said, earnestly, " This is what I understood
from Rupert; but he seemed to think that the
temptation would be too great for you to resist; her
fortune is so immense."

CYIULLA. 271

"It has become immense by the death of her
brother. Rupert would of course be sceptical, if I
said that such a dower would overwhelm me; it
seems like a reversal of the order of things, when a
woman bestows all, and a man has nothing but
himself to offer."

" If you had liked her, you wTould not have
thought of that for a moment."

" Perhaps not ; but as I did not in the least care
for her, it served as an excuse for terminating an
affair in which my father had from the first in-
terested himself more deeply than ever I had done."
"Is your father so very interested?" asked Cy-
rilla, with some alarm.

•• Not altogether, in the sense you mean," an-
swered Zomdorff, half smiling ; " he was interested
about Margaret, on account of her personal suffer-
ings. She was subject to nervous attacks of a pain-
ful and dangerous description ; and it was in conse-
<|uence of one of these illnesses that people began
to talk about an engagement, as I was obliged to
spend hours beside her sofa, holding her hand in
mine, her father imagining this the only preserva-
tive against a recurrence of the spasms, or whatever
they were called."

fl Did you observe anything like mesmeric sleep?"
asked Melanie, eagerly. " Did you feel any loss of
strength, as she began to recover?"

272 CYRILLA.

" More loss of temper than loss of strength ; I
never felt so bored and irritated in my life."

u Perhaps the irritation of her nerves had com-
municated itself to yours perhaps "

" Spare me," cried ZorndorfY, hastily ; " the sub-
ject is disagreeable, most painful to me ; and if,"
he added, turning to Cyrilla, u if you can forgive
my impatient answer just now, and are satisfied
with my explanation, I hope it will never again be
mentioned."

" I am quite satisfied," said Cyrilla ; " for if I
have rightly understood you, there has been no en-
gagement entered into, and therefore there is none
to be broken off on my account ; so, I suppose, I
may now write to my mother ?"

ZorndorfT was silent, and for more than a minute
appeared to think intently. " I have no reason-
able objection," he then said slowly; " but I should
greatly prefer your waiting until your return to
Salzburg ; we have unfortunately time enough be-
fore us for explanation and discussion, and on the
part of your aunt you may be prepared for the most
violent opposition."

" That I know," said Cyrilla, u and agree with
you in thinking it better to avoid giving her a sub-
ject of animadversion ; but from my mother I have
never had any concealment, and her consent, even

CYRILLA. 273

if unwillingly given, would relieve my mind irom
all anxiety."

u Then write to her," said ZomdorfF, " but not
just yet ; grant me a few weeks' delay. I have
such an unconquerable misgiving that my dream

of happiness will be but short her answer may

end it may separate us for ever !"

" It will not, if Melanie write at the same time
with me. You know mamma might not believe all
I intend to say in your favour ; but Melanie can
write letters that would move the very stones."

u If you will both defer writing until you are
about to leave Exfort, it is all I desire."

" Cyrilla, you can hardly refuse this, his only re-
quest," observed Melanie.

" Stay," cried ZorndorfT, " I have another to add
to it ; I am still more anxious that my uncle should
be kept in ignorance of our engagement until he has
used His influence to procure me the situation which
I hope will lead to fortune and honour. That once
obtained, even he can hardly oppose my wishes,
although I know he has other plans for me."

" And for Cyrilla, too," said Melanie. " He is
quite persuaded she intends to marry Rupert, and
has repeatedly desired me to point out all the ad-
vantages of such a marriage to her ; his opposition
would be strong, and not, I fear, confined to words

so you see, Cyrilla "

n2

274 CYRILLA.

" I see that I am doomed to secrecy."

" And is it possible you ever thought of consult-
ing Wilhelm?"

" No," replied Cyrilla, " I am too much afraid of
him for that ; but I certainly was equally far from
intending deliberately to deceive him."

" There is no deception," said Melanie. " You
will merely be silent, that is all ; and surely this
very innocent little mystery will have some charm
for you, if a particle of romance be left in your dis-
position."

Cyrilla shook her head very gravely.

" Mademoiselle d'Adlerkron will not condescend
to be romantic," said ZorndorfT.

u The word romantic cannot prevent me from
feeling that I am about to do that of which my
mother would disapprove," said Cyrilla, turning her
tearful eyes to her sister's face.

"That I dare not dispute," rejoined ZorndorfT ;
" there is no doubt that your mother would greatly
prefer your cousin Eupert for a son-in-law — that
she would like to hear you congratulated by your
friends — would like to be herself envied by all
mothers who had daughters to dispose of; and,
putting all the necessity for secrecy out of the case,
Mademoiselle d'Adlerkron it is enormous pre-
sumption on my part, having ever dared to love

you. Perhaps I might, perhaps I could, have re-

CYRILLA. 275

signed you, had you not yourself said that O,

Cyrilla," he exclaimed, passionately, u write, say,
do what you please — anything, but recall the words
you spoke yesterday."

* I have no wish to recall them," said Cyrilla, in
a low voice.

" The most distant allusion to their purport in
my uncle's presence would cause my banishment
from Exfort, and effectually separate us for ever."

" We shall at all events be separated in the course
of a few months," said Cyrilla ; " but I have suffi-
cient reliance on you to wait patiently for better
time

k* And," he persisted, " suppose these better
times were very distant ; suppose obstacles appa-
rently insurmountable should be placed between
us?"

" I will wait — years — a life long !"

u Will you promise?" cried Zorndorff, with un-
accountable eagerness, " will you promise me
that?"

u What I said yesterday meant it, and you may
rely on me. I ask for no assurances, no promises
from you ; I trust you implicitly — is it too much to
expect you to do the same by me?"

"How in — tolerably rational she is!" ex-
claimed Zorndorff, turning to Melanie. " She does
not love me yet."

276 CYRILLA.

" You are ungrateful," said Melanie ; can you
not perceive that her regard shows itself in acts,
not in words ?"

" But unfortunately I am by nature suspicious,
and nothing but an irrevocable promise can satisfy
me."

" Irrevocable ! " repeated Melanie, laughing ;
" one would almost suppose that you were suggest-
ing a clandestine marriage."

" I wish I dared do so," said Zorndorff.

" That would be terrifically romantic," rejoined
Melanie ; " but such a thing must not be named, or
even thought of for a moment." And she suddenly
rose and put an end to a conference that was taking
so dangerous a turn. Her jesting interpretation of
his words, however, served to inspire a hope from
which nothing could afterwards induce Zorndorff to
swerve, and on which he rang the changes, until the
idea became familiar to her, and at length formed
a frequent subject of discussion.

CYKILLA. 277

CHAPTER XYIIL

The ensuing six weeks decided Cyrilla's lot in life ;
during that time the strong youthful fancy, and
unconscious admiration that she felt for Zorndorff
became, under her sister's auspices and his urn-e-
mitting devotion, a passion of that enthusiastic
description which, however much cultivation of
mind and manners might enable her to conceal it,
was powerful enough to blind her judgment, make
her dependent on him for happiness, and even
threatened to deprive her youth of its hitherto un-
broken serenity.

It was the dull season at Exfort ; all Melanie's
friends and acquaintances began to quit the town :
the Bellegardes, with whom she was most intimate,
were to visit their grandfather in the south of France;
the Vicomtesse de Rubigny to return to Italy with
her husband, who was attached to the French lega-

278 CYRILLA.

tion at one of the minor courts ; and the President's
arrangements and press of business previous to his
journey to Aix confining him almost exclusively to
his office, — Melanie, Cyrilla, and Zorndorff were
more than ever drawn together, their intercourse less
impeded or disturbed than before. An apparently
unlimited confidence was established ; letters were
read aloud, answers discussed, and, finally, three
applications for consent to Cyrilla's engagement
despatched by the same post to Salzburg. Me-
lanie's letter was perfect, the romance subdued, the
praises of her nephew judicious. Zorndorff 's short,
energetic, and trustful. Cyrilla endeavoured to
confine herself to affectionate entreaties ; but deep
feeling and painful anxiety were legible between
each timid line.

The morning they were to leave Exfort, the Pre-
sident, as usual, waited until after the post hour,
deliberately looked over all his letters, and then re-
tired to give some final directions.

" I have just heard from my father," said Zorn-
dorff, approaching Cyrilla ; "he is going to Aix —
win Mm, and all will go well."

" What must I do to make him like me ?"

" Sing for him, read for him, sketch for him, and
above all things, laugh and talk as you would to
me. You will not find him insensible, though per-
haps a little indifferent at first."

CYRILLA. 279

" 0!" said Cyrilla, a good deal relieved, u I
don't think, from this description, I shall be at all
afraid of him."

" Your peculiar position just now makes unusual
care necessary," said ZorndorfF. " His plans for
me were similar to your aunt's for you ; and he is
not a man who makes allowances for weaknesses
that interfere with what he considers duties."

"But," said Cyrilla, " there is no duty in this

case you are not in any way bound to this

Margaret von Sommerfeld "

" Xo — no — certainly not ; but my father feels
such compassion for her wretched state of health

that he " Here, to ZorndorfT's great relief, the

President entered the room again; and he added, as
if in continuation, " In short, he is a great admirer
ot your sex, takes their part on all occasions, and I
have not the least doubt that you will like him."

"Of whom are you speaking?" asked the Pre-
sident.

" My father. I have just been telling Made-
moiselle d'Adlerkron that she will see him at Aix.
He has desired me to meet him there as soon as I
can manage to get away from Exfort."

ff I think," said the President, slightly frowning,
u it would be better if you went to Berlin. The
six months' mourning is at an end, and there is no
reasonable cause for further delay."

280 CYRILLA.

" Then I must make an treasonable one/' said
Zorndorff, with affected unconcern ; but, seeing the
determined gravity of his uncle, he added, " I can
do nothing until I have seen my father again, and
must give him time to take his baths in peace be-
fore we think of transacting business."

u In the meantime," said the President, with a
2;ood deal of meaning in his manner, " in the mean-
time you can get over the paroxysm of admiration
of which you once spoke to me, and the sooner you
do so now the better. Much as I like your society,
I have no wish for it at Aix. You understand me,
I know."

Aix-la-Chapelle was, twenty years ago, far from
being either a handsome town or particularly plea-
sant place ; but the warm springs of mineral water,
for which it has been so long celebrated, made it
then, as now, much frequented for some months
every year. At the time of the Congress which
had been held there in 1818, the President had first
seen Melanie ; and, after a very short acquaintance,
she had become his wife. With a regularity which
had pervaded all his movements through life, he
had returned to Aix year after year, taking the same
walks, observing the same diet, and using the same
number of baths, until they had become, from habit,
as necessary to the renovation of his strong frame
as the relaxation from business was undoubtedly

i

CYKILLA. 281

beneficial to his hard-worked mind. It is true, he
read the newspapers while in his bath, and wrote
several hours every day, but he was no longer ab-
sorbed in business ; he grew almost cheerful, and
even occasionally hazarded something like a jest
with his old friend General Zomdorff, who in-
variably spent the greater part of every day with
him.

As Melanie never walked, the President con-
sidered it incumbent on him to take Cyrilla out
with him ; and, after having shown her everything
worth seeing in and about the town, from the tomb
of Charlemagne and the relics, to the pond of warm
salt water, in which the fish nourish instead of be-
ing parboiled, she was thenceforward expected daily
to ascend the Louisberg, rest for a time on the ter-
race, admire the view, and then return home in
precisely the period of time which had been found
requisite for the performance of this healthful,
pleasant, and exhilarating walk during the three
trials necessary to ascertain the fact. It is not im-
probable that she might have found herself before
long in the same situation as the girl in Madame de
Genlis' " Palais de la Verite," who, being condemned
to wander perpetually on the most luxuriant green
grass, under a sky of unclouded blue, was at first
enchanted with the bright prospect, but soon grow-
ing weary of it and her walk, wished for any con-

282 CYRILLA.

vulsion of nature that would change and terminate
it. Cyrilla's companions, however, supplied by
their conversation the want of variety in the scenery.
The President, though not what is called agreeable,
was well informed ; the General was both ; and the
awe Cyrilla had apprehended she should feel in his
presence was forgotten, when, instead of the grim-
looking warrior she had unconsciously taught her-
self to expect, his still handsome face and youthful
figure met her anxious glance. It seemed as if
hard service, more than age, had partially bleached
his hair, which, on his head and in his moustachios,
grew thick and long, while his dark eyes, clear and
expressive as his son's, were even more constantly
animated; and the scarcely perceptible shade of red
that coloured his sunburnt features, gave an ap-
pearance of health and freshness to his whole
person.

Cyrilla's task was easy. He had known her
father long and well ; they had suffered dangers
and hardships together ; her name interested, her
appearance charmed him ; and the half playful,
half serious efforts which she unreservedly made to
please, added to the incessant eulogiums of the
President, at length completely fascinated him.
There was no endeavour on his part to appear a
day younger than his age, there was nothing youth-
ful in his manner, but there was also nothing aged.

CYIilLLA. 283

He had not become garrulous, that most unfailing
proof of weakening intellect. He neither spoke of
his successes in love or war. If questioned about
his campaigns, he described them as events in which
his person was lost sight of altogether ; but he had
known all the celebrated men of the last war, and
of them he spoke freely enough; and about what he
had seen in the different camps and courts where
chance had thrown him he was by no means re-
served.

Cyrilla's walks on the Louisberg were very
pleasant. She sprang lightly on between her com-
panions, at first merely a listener to their conver-
sation, latterly a participator in it. The President
thought it necessary occasionally to affect a little
parental authority when, complaining of heat, she
threw off a scarf or shawl, and let her bonnet hang
by its strings on her shoulders. Not so the Ge-
neral. He laughed, seemed to enjoy, and openly
encouraged all her childish wilfulness.

One day, on their return, they found Melanie
sitting at a table covered with newly arrived letters.
Cyrilla's colour changed rapidly as she received the
long-expected one from her mother, and retired with
it to a distant window. Melanie seemed lost in
thought, the President and General so occupied,
that for nearly half an hour the silence .was un-
broken excepting by the occasional rustling of paper

284 CYRILLA.

or breaking of seals. At length the General ob-
served: " How pleasantly and quickly our time
here has passed this year, Wilhelm ! Edouard
writes that he will join us here, though I scarcely
expected him to do so, as he refused last year ; and
I know he particularly dislikes Aix."

The President looked at Cyrilla. She was gaz-
ing into the street, and appeared totally uninter-
ested in what had been said. u All right there at
least," he thought.

But Cyrilla had not heard one word.

" He says," continued the General, referring to
his letter, " he says he can remain here a week or
two, and that he hopes to induce his aunt and her
sister to make some excursions with him."

" I shall be delighted," said Melanie, with a faint
laugh and embarrassed look, as she moved quickly
across the room to Cyrilla, and asked, in a whis-
per, " Good or bad news ?"

" Good — that is, consent ; but given reluctantly
— 0, so reluctantly, that it scarcely deserves the
name. There are a few lines enclosed for you and
for him, but the letter seems to have been delayed
more than a week in Exfort ! "

" Edouard kept it, hoping to bring it to you
himself. As, however, he cannot be here until
next week, and finds suspense intolerable, he has
desired me to write to him directly, but on no ac-

CYRILLA. 285

count to let either his father or Wilhelm know that
I do so."

" I hoped," said Cyrilla, with a sigh, " that
there would soon be an end to all this secrecy."

11 O, my dear creature, you do not know how-
poor dear Edouard has become entangled within
the last few weeks. He has evidently been too
compassionate, and if you do not assist him, I fear
he will be sacrificed."

"Sacrificed!"

" Hush ; wait until these two men have left the
room : you see they are just going."

"Well!" said Cyrilla, as the door closed on
them.

u Let me read you part of his letter," said Me-
lanie, her eyes glancing quickly over the closely

written pages. " • Accumulated annoyances

unsolicited affection cursed feeling of commis-
eration' no, that's not it But here he

says : l And just when I had reason to hope that I
should never hear their odious names mentioned
again, I received a letter from old Sommerfeld,- to
say that he was ill, and would, in all probability,
soon follow his son to the grave; — that if his
daughter's fortune were twenty times greater than
it is, there was no one on whom he would so will-
ingly bestow her and it as on me. My very ob-
jection to be enriched by her had so raised me in

286 CYRILLA.

his opinion, as well as hers, that he joined her in
wishing to make the most liberal settlement on me,
so that I should in no way feel dependent on either
of them.'"

"Very magnanimous!" said Cyrilla, breathing
quickly ; " these offers seem to have had weight
with him, too. You may tell him when you write
that he is at liberty to accept them."

" Wait until you hear the rest," said Melanie,
and she continued to read : — " I need not tell you
that this proposal made no sort of impression on me ;
but when the old man added that his unfortunate
child had been ill since the time she had last seen
me, and that she was at times almost quite insensible
for hours, I could not refuse to pity and believe
him. I have seen her in that state myself, and
the question is now simply, is she or am I to be
sacrificed?" Melanie paused, and looked up.

" He seems to forget me altogether ! " observed
Cyrilla with some bitterness.

" 0 no ; but he imagines you do not care for him
as he does for you. You have never in any way
betrayed the extent of your regard for him. He
asks a proof now : give it him, and all doubts are
at an end for ever!"

" He shall have it," cried Cyrilla, with height-
ened colour and flashing eyes. " I release him
from all his vows and promises."

CYRILLA, 287

" He desires exactly the contrary," said Melanie,
eagerly. " He has requested me to induce you to
consent to — a — private — marriage ! "

u I dare not, I dare not!" cried Cyrilla, with a
look of terror ; but in her heart she rejoiced that he
gave such a proof of his determination to reject the
wealth she knew he so ardently desired to pos-
sess. u Dearest Melanie, you cannot advise me to
take such a step?"

"You say your mother consents " began

Melanie.

*■ Yes; and she dislikes long engagements, too;
but she certainly never thought of anything of this
kind, and would never permit it."

" We cannot expect her to trust Edouard as
we do. She does not know him yet," said Me-
lanie ; " but let me read the rest of his letter to you
— i I confess without hesitation that I have not my
father's or uncle's stern rectitude of character. I
cannot, unmoved, see any woman suffer ; and this
weakness has been the cause of all my embarrass-
ments. Even idolizing Cyrilla, as you know I do,
I will not, cannot answer for myself, if I must sub-
mit to the ordeal of a few scenes such as I know
await me in Berlin. Nothing but the most solemn
engagement — nothing but a previous marriage can
enable me to brave them. Use, therefore, all your
influence: o nduce Cyrilla to consent to my plan.

288 CYRILLA.

Chance favours us : a young clergyman, a friend of
mine, to whom I have just had an opportunity of
being useful, is now in Spa, which, you know, is so
near Aix that we can go there any day we please.
In trusting this young man, we run no risk. I am
convinced that we may depend on his secrecy.
Tell Cyrilla that my life's happiness is in her hands,
and entreat her not to drive me to despair by being
inexorable.' "

Melanie paused, folded up her letter, and then
said : " Your answer, Cyrilla ; I must write."

"I cannot consent Melanie," she added un-
easily. " Do you think that Edouard has been
quite candid with us ? Do you not find this pro-
posal of the Sommerfelds odd — in fact, indelicate,
'if we may not suppose a — previous engagement?"

" Xot at all, my dear," said Melanie, impatiently.
" the people are enormously rich, wish for rank,
and take it for granted he must be merely making
difficulties to enhance his value Though you can-
not, I can imagine him spending hours with the
nervous, melancholy sister of his friend, and nothing
more natural than that she should take a fancy to
him, and determine to indulge it like a spoiled
child, as she no doubt is. Come, Cyrilla, relent a

little or Edouard may go to Berlin without

seeing you!"

" Let him go ! " cried Cyrilla, petulantly.

CYRILLA. 289

" After he has passed his ordeal, as he calls it, I
shall have more confidence in him."

" Are you serious ?"

" Perfectly ; but he has no idea of going to Ber-
lin. I feel sure he will come here and insist

O, how I wish I could go home until all these diffi-
culties were removed ! You see he is unreasonable
in his demands : no assurances, no promises will
satisfy him !"

"He loves!" cried Melanie, enthusiastically;
" and in your place I could more than pardon : I
should rejoice to find him unreasonable ! Had
Valentin Englmann possessed such energy and ar-
dour, how different would have been my fate ; but
he only talked of the deprivations to which I might
be subjected, the trials I should have to endure,

and himself proposed urged me to yield to the

wishes of my family !"

" I cannot help thinking he was very unselfish,"
said Cyrilla.

" And I cannot help thinking," rejoined Me-
lanie, " that it is a great pity you could not make
up your mind to many Rupert. I perceive every
day more and more that he was right when he said
y«>u would suit each other exactly. The measure
of passionless regard which would have perfectly
satisfied him will drive poor Edouard to distrac-
tion !"

VOL. I. 0

290 CYRILLA.

She left the room while uttering the last words ;
and the letter which she then wrote brought Zorn-
dorff to Aix immediately. A stormy scene ensued,
in which Cyrilla showed more firmness than he had
expected ; and he, in consequence, adopted a system
of acting but too well calculated to work on the
feelings of a youthful and warm heart. He pre-
tended to be offended at her having questioned him
again about his connexion with the Sommerfelds ;
indignant at her doubting his word ; and then
quarrelled with her in the most decided manner.
All intercourse between them ceased. He never
by any chance addressed her — avoided her when-
ever he could do so without rudeness — and gave
full play to the naturally melancholy expression of
his beautiful countenance. At first Cyrilla was
angry ; then she became offended ; at last unhappy.
The President began by degrees to perceive a
change in the manners of his gay sister-in-law.
She seldom sang, no longer made amusing sketches,
and complained not unfrequently of fatigue during
their walks. Zorndorff never accompanied them
after the first day, and had also declined joining
any of their excursions in the neighbourhood, al-
though in his letters he had been the first to pro-
pose them. The President was sorry for Cyrilla,
but highly approved of his nephew's supposed
prudence.

CYRILLA. 291

To Cyrilla a continuance of this state of affairs
became intolerable. All her efforts to conceal her
sufferings from her tormentor were vain. She
knew that he read every feeling of her heart, but
he did not apparently triumph in her struggles.
He evidently became himself from day to day more
depressed.

At length she summoned courage one morning
to sit down beside the President, and quietly but
resolutely requested him to make arrangements for
her immediate return home. While she was still
speaking, Zorndorff entered the room, and involun-
tarily her voice sank, while her colour rose in the
presence of the unwished-for auditor. The Presi-
dent paused for more than a minute before he an-
swered : " Of course, of course, my dear child, if
you wish it ; but you must promise to return to us
again in a few months — in a very few montns.
You have become the life of our house, Cyrilla,
and I should like to keep you altogether now."

" You are very kind," she said, with a faint smile,
and then added, in a still lower voice : u Mamma,
in her last letter, seemed so anxious for my return,
that if you could manage it, I should like to leave
to-morrow."

u To-morrow !" he exclaimed. u Why, to-mor-
row you are going to Spa."

292 CYRILLA.

" I don't intend to go to Spa."

" Don't you ?" said the President, with some sur-
prise ; " and yet I remember hearing you say you
wished to see the ruins of Franchimont, and that
you intended to buy a work-box for your sister."
As Cyrilla was silent, he continued : " Melanie will
not give up the party to Spa, I fear ; but a day
more or less is of little importance. We shall return
to Exfort the end of this week, and then you can
have Madame Ehrhardt from Freilands to travel
home with you."

Accustomed to dictate, he considered further dis-
cussion needless ; and, having looked at his watch,
gathered up his papers and left the room. Cyrilla
rose precipitately, intending to follow him, but
Zorndorff sprang forward, and whispered a few
words of such urgent entreaty, that she stopped.
Some reproaches followed; then entreaties for for-
giveness, if he had offended ; finally, a passionate
appeal to her heart. Cyrilla hesitated — pardoned
— and then — burst into tears. Zorndorff saw his
advantage, and pursued it. Those who have had
"love passages" in their lives (and who has not?)
know how difficult it is to quarrel again at the very
moment of reconciliation ; when Zorndorff, with
fervid earnestness and tearful eyes, again whispered :
"You will go to Spa?" She had not courage to

CYRILLA. 293

say no, and all her efforts afterwards to moderate
his expectations were vain. He left her to make
the necessary arrangements with Melanie.

While still standing motionless in a state of pain-
ful mental bewilderment, her two elderly friends
came to remind her of her promise to walk with
them. Almost mechanically, she that day moved
on between them, but was so silent and abstracted,
that, after a few fruitless efforts to enliven her, they
also became taciturn ; the thoughts of both cen-
tred in her, but were as different as could well be
imagined.

294 CYRILLA.

CHAPTER XIX.

" What are you about, Edouard ?" cried the Gen-
eral the next day, when he saw his son rather os-
tentatiously cramming the pockets of the carriage
with books. u What are you about ? Was there
ever such a dull insensible fellow in this world ?
One would think you were going to travel with me

or your uncle if you can read in such society, I

disown you altogether."

u And I adopt him," cried the President, with
unusual warmth. " Edouard, you are acting like
a man of honour, and I admire and appreciate your
conduct more than I can here express * but you un-
derstand me."

He did ; and as he bent forward, under pretence
of assisting his aunt in her search for her note-book,
lie blushed in that dim, scarcely perceptible manner
peculiar to very pale men ; but the veins on his

CTRILLA. 295

temples swelled high and purple at the praise which
he felt at that moment he did not deserve in the
sense it had been bestowed on him. As they drove
off, he consoled himself with the idea, that his un-
premeditated quarrel with Cyrilla, and no effort on
his part, had, on the present occasion, tended to de-
ceive his uncle.

Spa is about ten leagues from Aix-la-Chapelle,
and is situated in the mountains of the Ardennes,
occupying a valley round which hills covered with
woods form an amphitheatre, and give it various
and picturesque environs that tempt the inhabitants
to continual excursions. To the well-known ruins
of Franchimont the travellers went at once. They
thought they might be questioned about them, or
the new from them, and they wished to have the
ensuing morning free.

The use which Zorndorff and Cyrilla made of
this freedom was to bind themselves by vows as
solemn as they were secret. It was at the Gerous-
tere spring, about two miles from Spa, that they
met the clergyman ; and in the keeper's house,
where he had procured a room for them, the mar-
riage-ceremony was performed ; not, however, until
Zorndorff had explained at some length to his very
dissatisfied, and evidently most unwilling friend,
that whatever legal formalities had been omitted from
want of time, should be carefully attended to subse-

296 CYRILLA.

quently, and that at all events there was every pro-
bability that the ceremony would be performed again
at some not very distant period in a more public
manner, and in presence of their mutual relations.
When they were to exchange rings, as is usual in
Germany, there was an embarrassed pause. Zorn-
dorff, after a moment's hesitation, drew from the
little finger of his left hand a small but very mas-
sively set seal-ring, on which his arms were en-
graved, and placed it on the third finger of Cyrilla's
right hand (the left is only used to denote a left-
handed or unequal marriage), then took from her a
small twisted hoop, gave it the place previously
occupied by his signet, and murmured, as he did so,
the words, " for ever."

After their return to Spa, when speaking of this
circumstance, and laughing about having forgotten
the mystic sign of eternity, Zorndorff told Cyrilla
that at their second marriage he would reclaim his
ring, but that hers should never leave his finger, and
was destined to accompany him to the grave.

"And this second marriage?" cried Melanie,
eagerly, " when is it likely to take place ?"

That depends on circumstances over which I have
no control," replied Zorndorff, gravely.

" It will not, I hope, be necessary ever to mention
what occurred this morning at the Geroustere,"
continued Melanie, walking up and down the room

CYRILLA. 297

uneasily. " Wilhelm would be furious I am

beginning to think it was a very unadvised

— hasty act I I wish to heaven I had not

consented."

She felt that she had more than consented — she
had promoted. After a long pause she began again :
" A painful presentiment of evil is coming over me.

Cyrilla your mother Edouard, your

father Good gracious, how can you talk in that

way, and be happy at such a moment !"

This was addressed to her companions, but they
heard her not ; seated together on a sofa, they seemed
to have no thought but for each other. Cyrilla
smiled and blushed; while Zomdorff whispered
bright visions of future happiness and assurances
that the ensuing two or three years would be more,
endurable to them both, now that the doubts and
anxieties of an uncertain engagement were at an
end, and they could enjoy the tranquillizing certainty
that, happen what would, they were bound to each
other for life. As Melanie approached them, Cy-
rilla drew her down beside her; while Zorndorff
continued talking, totally undisturbed by her pre-
sence. She listened, and tried to forget her appre-
hensions, but in vain ; his unusually high spirits
alarmed her more and more ; she proposed ordering
the carriage to return to Aix. He would not listen
to her; and when she commenced a half earnest ex-

298 CYRILLA.

postulation with Cyrilla, he playfully waved her
away, saying, that no one should in future interfere
between him and his wife.

Melanie tried to laugh ; hut tears stood in her
eyes as she walked to a window, and watched some
black clouds which began to gather over the town,
foreboding a thunder-storm. With the first flash
of lightning, a light travelling carriage appeared in
the street, and dashed furiously on towards the
hotel. u Edouard, Edouard," she exclaimed almost
breathlessly, u here is your father, and I do believe
your uncle is with him."

" What the devil has brought them here? " cried
Zorndorff, starting up. u Did they say anything
to you about intending to come?"

" On the contrary, they both refused, and said
nothing would induce them to submit to the exam-
ination of their luggage on the frontiers; and yet your
father's carriage is packed as if for a long journey,
and your servant that you purposely left at Aix is
with him."

" Then," said Zorndorff, " he has got letters
from those cursed Sommerfelds, who seem deter-
mined to hunt me down. Any woman but Margaret
would have perceived long ago that I all but — hated
her. Cyrilla, dearest, our trials are beginning
sooner than I expected; my father is violent, and
a storm is now inevitable, but it is unnecessary

CYRILLA 299

that you should witness it — I will meet him alone.
If he insist on my going with him at once to
Berlin, I shall consent; it will be but two days
sooner than I intended; and, watched by him and
my uncle, as I should be in case I refused, we
could enjoy but little of each other's society." He
left the room by one door, as his father and the
President entered by another.

They looked round with some surprise; it was
evident they had expected to rind him where in
fact he had been a few minutes before. The
President said something about " business," — a
word which his lips seemed to form from habit; the
General asked for his son, and on hearing Melanie's
answer, prepared to seek him. The President
drew him aside, and whispered, u Do not be too
hasty: though he confessed that he admired, he
has so evidently avoided her of late, that I am
still inclined to think he has not spoken to her —
perhaps she knows nothing at all about the matter ;
before you see him, let me at least question Me-
lanie." He turned to his wife, and in his most
solemn and severe manner requested her to accom-
pany him into the adjoining room.

Cyrilla looked anxiously towards the General;
she knew he liked her, and all her hopes now
centred in him. Though aware that she dared not
confess what had occurred that morning, she wished
him to speak to her about his son ; she thought he

300 CYRILLA.

might be induced to give up his mercenary plans
for him, if aware of their mutual attachment, and
she now felt that she could acknowledge hers
without reserve. Surely a man who could speak
so gently, and look so kindly, must value affection
more than money ! Cyrilla's furtive glance towards
her usually cheerful companion made her heart
sink; he appeared to have suddenly grown taller,
as with head erect, his arms folded, his brows con-
tracted, his lips firmly pressed together, he im-
patiently paced the long apartment, stopping how-
ever, occasionally, to fix his dark searching eyes
upon her face. There was something terrific in
his glance, something which she did not understand ;
but she recoiled before it and felt alarmed. Per-
haps he observed this, for the firmness of his step
relaxed; he stopped more frequently, and at length
said, " I am sorry you have seen me in this state
of irritation; I fear it may eradicate any more
agreeable impressions I may have been so fortunate
as to have made on you, during our six weeks'
acquaintance."

u You have made me a little afraid of you I
confess," answered Cyrilla, attempting to smile;
" I am not at all courageous — a loud word, or an
angry look, intimidates me at once."

u That is the very last thing in the world I
should wish to do," said the General, still standing

CYRrLLA. oOl

erect before her. " I have received letters of a
most unpleasant, most painful description, but —
but — if you have nothing to do with, this unfor-
tunate affair — or if you are only unconsciously the
cause, why, I ha^e no right — I have no wish — in
fact, you cannot change your nature, and become
disagreeable instead of charming, or ugly instead of
— of — pshaw!'1 and he again commenced his walk.

u I have no wish to be either disagreeable or
ugly," observed Cyrilla, demurely looking up at
him.

u To know you well, and not to — like — you, is
impossible,"' began the General after a pause.

u I am very glad to hear you say so," rejoined
Cyrilla, once more breathing freely; " there is no
one I have ever taken so much pains to please as

you."

" Indeed ! I feared it was the vanity inherent
to man. which sometimes made me imagine this:
my natural understanding refused to believe that
one like you could feel any interest in an old soldier
such as I am."

" I never saw you look old until just now," said
Cyrilla; " and it was not exactly old either, but
terrible. I think you have made me even more
afraid of you than I am of the President, and
rday I could have spoken to you as I would
to — to — Melanie."'

302 CYRILLA.

" I wish," he said, leaning over the end of the
sofa while his features by degrees began to resume
their usual expression, u I wish you would forget
having seen me angry."

u I cannot, until you have been for some time
quite yourself again."

He paused, and seemed to deliberate. " I do not
quite understand you," he began slowly; " may I
ask you a question or two? "

u As many as you please," answered Cyrilla,
hoping that at last he was about to name his son.

" You said just now, that you had taken trouble
to please me. You did so, perhaps, and now tell
me so without reserve, because I am old enough to
be — your father ? "

Cyrilla blushed and turned away her head.

" And you sang all that old-fashioned music I
brought you — merely to humour the fancies of an
old man ? "

There was something so gentle, so resigned, in
the half-sigh with which this was said, that Cyrilla
looked up with some surprise, and said, " I never
thought about your age; I sang whatever and
whenever you desired it, because I wished you to
like me."

" You would not, however, be so candid," ob-
served the General, smiling, " if I were a score of
years younger?"

CYRILLA. 30o

" Perhaps not."

H And suppose/' he continued, H suppose, besides
liking, I were to admire you as if I were that score
of years younger ? "

u Like and admire me as much as you please,"
said Cyrilla, " hut never again look at me as you
did just now! "

"Never/" exclaimed the General, and snatching
her hand, he pressed it to his lips; a moment after,
it seemed to turn to a torpedo within his grasp — he
gazed at it as if all his faculties had become be-
numbed. Cyrilla saw that his eyes were fixed on
the ring she had that morning received from Zom-
dorfT; she saw that he recognised it, and was not
sony that the unusual form of the shield and heavy
setting spared her the pain of a partial explanation
which she rather desired than otherwise. To re-
move any lingering doubts, he raised her hand so
as to let the light fall on the seal, and immediately
perceived his own arms. " That ring," he said,
slowly, " has been given you by Edouard — my
son."

Cyrilla did not speak, and he continued, " I
fear, I greatly fear, he did not tell you how it came
into his possession, or you would have preferred
any other gift, perhaps have refused to accept of
any one from him."

Cyrilla looked up inquiringly.

304 CYRILLA.

" You have most probably never heard the name
of Margaret von Sommerfeld ? "

u Count Zomdorff spoke of her as a person that

you very much wished him to marry " began

Cyrilla.

u A person that he very much wished to marry,"
.said the General, sternly; " a person whose afFec-
tions he sought and gained many years ago, while
still a student. At that time he wished to marry;
but I feared his giving up his profession, and her
father equally dreaded his want of steadiness: it
was therefore postponed; but after a long and
dangerous illness, from which she is scarcely yet
recovered, a solemn betrothal took place, and that
was the ring she gave him in the presence of all
her assembled relations. The successive deaths of a
sister and two brothers have hitherto prevented the
fulfilment of this engagement, but her father is
now dying, and wishes for the marriage without
further delay. Henceforward procrastination be-
comes treachery towards a woman whose affections
has been undeviating so many years — who has stood
all the various trials to which he has not scrupled
to subject her, and whose life, they say, depends on
his future conduct to her. What his intentions or
wishes may be now, I shall not inquire; he is
bound in honour to make Margaret his wife — and
his wife she shall be," he added again, walking up

CYRILLA. 305

and down the room, u his wife she shall be before
many weeks are over."

Cpilla, completely confounded by this lucid state-
ment, the truth of which she did not for a moment
doubt, sat stupified, until he pronounced the last
words. Their dire import to her, however, roused
her at once, and, clasping her hands, she stammered :
" But he does not care for her ; he does not like
her!"

" He did care for her, or pretended to do so, which
is the same thing in the eyes of the world. Her
brothers are dead, her father dying, she has no near
relation to call him to account ; but / have pro-
mised to be her guardian, and I have never yet
broken a promise, nor shall a son of mine do so.
I would rather," he added, vehemently, u I would
rather see him, with all his youth, talent, and beauty,
stretched on his bier, than that a shade of dis-
honour should pass over our house !"

He left her, and she sat in a sort of stupor, she
knew not how long. Her sister and the President
entered the room ; she heard the former reproach
her husband for having kept her in ignorance of so
important a circumstance as her nephew's engage-
ment, and heard the President answer :

a I should have told you long ago, Melanie, had
you been as reasonable as you are a clever woman.
Your actions are irreproachable, but your theories

306 CYRILLA.

are of so fantastic and romantic a description, that
I feared when you discovered that prudence more
than love had directed Edouard's choice, you might
have endeavoured to disgust him with the prospect
of comfort and affluence that awaited him."

u Comfort, and affluence ! " repeated Melanie, dis-
dainfully. u Say, rather, that you and his father
wish him to sell himself for gold ! "

"He chose for himself," rejoined the President,
" of his own free will ; what his motives were I can
only surmise. His father is not mercenary, and
would never have required him to improve his for-
tune by marriage ; but having pledged himself as
he has done, he has now only the alternative of
honour or dishonour."

Melanie approached Cyrilla, and whispered : "I
have confessed nothing ; for my sake, for heaven's
sake, be silent, and trust to Edouard."

Cyrilla bent her head, without attempting to
speak.

The General and his son entered the room im-
mediately afterwards. Never had their resemblance
to each other been so apparent as at the moment
when, pale and agitated, they both came towards
Cyrilla to take leave. The former murmured a few
scarcely intelligible words, and then turned to the
President and Melanie. Zorndorff stood still and
contemplated Cyrilla, as she sat, or rather reclined

CYRILLA. 307

on the sofa, pale, her eyes cast down, and trem-
bling in all the apprehension of the explosion of
family ire which she momentarily expected.

" Come," cried the General, hastily ; u delay is
worse than useless now."

" I cannot leave her so," cried ZomdorfT. " Let
me speak to her ; I ask but a few minutes — alone,"
he added, looking round the room, " or at least only
in presence of my aunt."

His father moved towards the door, as if to com-
ply with his request. The President stopped him :
" Edouard can have nothing to say which we may
not hear ; he has evidently been less candid than he
ought to have been with Cyrilla. Let him express
his regret and "

"Ungenerous!" exclaimed ZomdorfY, angrily.

" I might insist but no matter your presence

may be a restraint to her — to me it shall be none.
Cyrilla, dearest Cyrilla!" he cried, seating himself
beside her in the very place he had occupied before
his father's arrival. " Will you endeavour to be-
lieve that my ungovernable love has alone induced
me to deceive you about this most unfortunate en-
gagement? You must remember how long I avoided
you ! — how I struggled with my traitorous inclina-
tions!"

Cyrilla remembered but too well.

308 CYRILLA.

u You will not answer ? Give me at least your
hand in token of forgiveness."

The hand was as cold as ice, and some tears from
ZorndorfT's eyes fell upon it. u Speak, Cyrilla,"
he said, in a voice choked by emotion. u I prefer
reproaches to this silence."

" Tell me what I may say," she mur-
mured, slowly, u and I will say it if I can."

Zorndorff felt all the meaning of these words, and
answered, hurriedly : " Say that you forgive — that
you will endeavour to forget that I have deceived
you ; say that you will still rely on me, and believe
in my unalterable affection."

" She may forgive you, Edouard," said his father,
stepping forward ; " but to your affection she can
have no further claim."

" Speak, Cyrilla " cried Zorndorff, beseech-
ingly, without appearing to have heard his father's
words.

"I forgive " faltered Cyrilla.

" And you will rely on me, no matter how much
appearances may be against me. You will believe
that in heart and soul I am yours, let what will
occur?"

Again his father attempted to interfere. Zorn-
dorff waved his hand impatiently, and continued, in
a low impassioned voice : " Cyrilla, you once said

CYRILLA. 309

that you would wait years — a life — if necessary ;
these were your words — your own words ! Pro-
mise, oh promise me that now ! "

"She shall not!" cried the President, coming
towards them with a frown of displeasure. " She
shall not ! How dare you ask her to speculate on
death — to rejoice over a grave ? Thoughts less de-
fined than these, Edouard, have led to crimes of the
deepest die."

" Promise — promise," reiterated ZorndorfT, still
more vehemently, as he drew her unresisting form
towards him.

" Can I do otherwise ? " she whispered. u Am
I not bound to you for life ?"

" Cyrilla," began the President, severely, " I
know not how to express my astonishment at con-
duct so unlike what I expected from you if these

whispered words were indeed the promise he "

" Enough — enough," cried ZorndorfT, starting
from the sofa; delay is torture now — let us go."

He left the room, followed by his father and
uncle. Cyrilla clasped her hands, and sat motion-
less, until roused by the sound of a departing car-
riage ; then she pressed her hand over her eyes,
looked round the Toom, approached her sister, who
was sitting at a little distance, and fixing her eyes
on her earnestly, she said, slowly, " Is not this like
a dreadful dream ? to see, and hear, and sit spell-

310 CYRILLA.

bound, not daring to speak ! How will all this
end?"

" Heaven knows/' answered Melanie, despond-
ingly. u Willielm says that the engagement is of
a peculiarly binding description ; that at Edouard's
own request papers have been signed and counter-
signed, and I know not what all ! Edouard's si-
lence may be excused on the plea of headstrong
passion dreading a check; but Wilhelm's systematic
secrecy towards me is unpardonable."

" What was it he said about death and a grave?"
asked Cyrilla, anxiously.

" I don't know, dear ; I was so afraid that Ed-
ouard, in a moment of irritation, would confess your
marriage, that I paid little attention to any one but
him ; most probably it was something about that

woman Wilhelm says she is in a very precarious

state of health."

" Perhaps he meant that she might die and

if she should, may not I be indirectly the cause ?
0 Melanie," she added, kneeling beside her sister,
and resting her head on the arm of her chair, " pray
with me, pray for me, for you have helped to lead
me into this temptation."

END OF VOLUME 1.